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landscape.Native plants are much better for our wildlife than introduced ones. A native tree (such as oak or hawthorn) might provide food and shelter for 150 insects, birds and other animals, but an introduced one (such as Japanese maple) is often devoid

Snow is not the best weather for finding insects, so I was not surprised, last week, when my brief wander up the garden found nothing. It didn’t help that I was under sustained attack from snowballing children at the time. But as my fellow bloggers

I've just been sorting through some insect specimens accumulated last year (specimen case pictured, left). Most have come from environmental surveys, but there are a few picked up elsewhere, including several gardens. I'll take them up

wildfire garden".Now, 26 years later, the gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show are awash not just with wildflowers, but with green roofs, ponds, streams and insect habitats. Indeed, these are such great gardens for wildlife, that on Sunday morning a

ramp. Avoid pond netting, as it can trap hedgehogs.HedgehogsWater insects include pond skaters, which you'll see zipping across the pond's surface from April until autumn, and water boatmen, which live at the bottom of the pond and feed on plant debris

. Like long-tailed tits, goldcrests eat insects and spiders, but specialise in tiny morsels such as moth eggs. Their beaks are designed to pick out insects from between pine needles. In really cold winters they will occasionally come to garden feeders, so keep

.Most companion plants are strongly scented and confuse pests looking for their host plant. Others attract beneficial insects, such as ladybirds and lacewings, which prey on aphids.The garlic chive, Allium tuberosum, is a hardy perennial with white star

completely different foodplants. Butterflies in the spring emergence lay their eggs on holly and their caterpillars feed on the developing buds. When these insects reach adulthood in late-summer they lay their eggs on ivy flower buds. At least

and widespread, but more an insect of rough flowery grassland, verges, meadows and commons than of domestic gardens. The larvae burrow in plant stems, but only wild flowers so it's never a pest. It's easy to see how this noble-looking beetle got its scientific

. They are in desperate need of some good PR. Having spent the last four or five months diligently, but rather secretively, helping the gardener by eating caterpillars, aphids, flies and other insects, now is the time they start making a nuisance of themselves around