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and hedges so we have a large population of birds. Blue tits are very beneficial for the gardener as they feed their young on caterpillars.Talking of which, it is very easy to unwittingly overwinter caterpillars in glasshouses and polytunnels. Only the other

, for kidney problems, blood pressure and in Chinese medicine it is a digestive aid. It also provides food for many moths including the Mottled Pug, Scalloped Hazel and Brimstone.Most of us see them woven through field hedges all over the countryside in late

hedges and shrubs unseen, and when they touch the ground they cleverly root to produce new plants, staking their claim to new found territory. These need to be dug out by hand, but it's one devil of a battle actually reaching them. And when you do

. Its preference for wild flowers (ladies’ smock, garlic mustard and hedge mustard) rather than cultivated brassicas means that it's less persecuted, but is also more easily overlooked.A few minutes later a holly blue, Celastrina argiolus, appeared

On holiday in northern France last week I was struck by the similarities in the landscape, but very subtle differences in the wildlife.With its gently rolling hills, hedges, grazing meadows, small woods, narrow lanes and winding streams, I could

. This year hers is virtually hugging the roof of the house and has had about twenty flowers. Mine looks like a bedraggled hobo emerging from a rough night in a hedge and has had one flower. I did, however, plant another one in my mother-in-law's greenhouse

's not large, and is very typical of suburban gardens with its lawn, flowery borders and hedged boundaries. I'm fascinated that such a rare insect should turn up there, but not really surprised. It's actually one of a series of strange and peculiar things

maple and has long been a stalwart of woodlands and hedges. This picture shows an unbearably ancient specimen, in a hedgerow. It has been laid more times than Xaviera Hollander over the decades; the trunk is extraordinary, both beautiful and slightly

new hedge, plant garlic in modules, lift and divide clumps of phlox, and prune an overgrown Clematis viticella. Her husband Neil held the ladder, watching as Carol climbed an alarming distance. Perhaps, like me, he doesn't have a head for heights

-forgiving whiteness has gone and left behind it … well, a lot of soggy, mucky chaos. Hedges are staggering slightly after supporting all that weight and my flower borders look about as attractive as roadside ditches. I tend to leave my herbaceous plants standing