July, and the garden explodes!
The garden in July is an explosion of colour and life and our work on creating a wildlife garden is becoming fully realised. During July we counted 6 species of butterfly, the froglets have left the pond, we have blackbird chicks being raised in the native honeysuckle and all this is underscored by the low, constant hum of bees and hoverflies.
This month, the star pollinator plants in the garden have been both the usual suspects and some stunning native plants which we took a gamble on this year, with great success. The non-native Buddleia, Heleniums, Rudbekias, Salvias, Cosmos and Alliums have not only been a beautiful focal point for the garden, but provided a lasting source of nectar. Purple flowers have shorter colour wavelengths, like UV light, and are therefore more visible and attractive to bees. Violet-blue colour range flowers also produce the highest volumes of nectar. In our garden we also strive to plant the hardiest purple/blue perennials so that the blooms come back every year, here’s a list of the best we’ve found for longevity, toughness and vibrancy of colour:
Echinops. Possibly my favourite summer flower. Clumps can last 20 years or more and they have an incredible geometric structure,
Geranium ‘Rozanne’, a well-loved garden favourite which acts as great ground cover in preventing weeds from taking hold
Lavender ‘Royal Velvet’ is a beautiful rich, dark lavender which is a bee-magnet and appears to do well in our clay soil
Penstemon ‘Dakota Burgundy’ which is a dwarf variety that doesn’t need staking and survived last winter’s heavy snow
Verbena Bonariensis ‘Lollipop’. The butterflies love this flower, and the Lollipop variety is a more manageable size for smaller gardens such as ours. Just make sure you pick the seedlings out as it prolifically self-sows!
Agapanthus ‘Black Jack.’ Winner of this year’s ‘Plant of the Year’ at the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show. The bumblebees have loved this plant and it’s a fantastic focal point for the garden. I’ve seen bumblebees sheltering from the rain in the trumpets.
In terms of the native plants, the stars of the show in terms of providing colour and attracting our pollinators has been the cotton-like pale pink tufts of Hemp Agrimony, the vivid blue blousiness of the Viper’s Bugloss and the self-seeded Red Valerian or ‘Devil’s Beard’, (never was a wildflower more aptly named). The Red Valerian in particular is often visited by the Hummingbird Hawk Moth. Last year was a boom-year for these endearing day-flying moths, as they migrated from the continent up to Kent in huge numbers during the heatwave.
Next month I will tell you about our moth project, it is a joy.