goat willow and the RHS....

A supine goat willow rests on the other side of our hedge, half buried in leaf mould. He must have been a fair old age when he tipped over. He's down, but not out. Piercing his thick coat of moss are hundreds of new shoots and branches reaching skywards all along his prostrate trunk.

our stumpery of rotting wood

This persisting life is not only good news for him, it's good news for the many invertebrates that feed on goat willow (Salix caprea). Its' leaves are the food plant for more than thirty species of moth caterpillar. And its' famous pussy willow male flowers are the place-to-be-seen for butterflies on an early spring morning. Comma and small tortoiseshell drank deeply of that new season nectar this year. And bumble bees too.

And where he’s decaying, the saproxylic organisms that turn death into life in woods are contributing to 90% of the boiodiversity of the woodland.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) describes the goat willow's precious ecosystem of aphids, caterpillars, leaf beetles and sawflies under the heading 'pests'. But they also describe it as 'perfect for pollinators'.

Therein lies the problem for our RHS, a conflict within the organisation as yet unresolved.

We're RHS members and our frequent visits to their many glorious gardens are so important to us that they border on the spiritual at times, hungrily recorded with camera and notebook. We have to book two days of overnight accommodation to feel we've got all we should do from a visit to Wisley. Harlow Carr (and Betty's!) must be visited at least once a year. And although more far-flung for us, Rosemoor is always inspirational. 

With its huge membership and our national passion for gardening, the RHS is in a key position of influence but is appearing staid and conservative when radical approaches have never been more necessary.

When we were last at Wisley, we had a wonderful day. Thousands of others did too.  But as we walked around that bustling place there was an emptiness. It felt two dimensional. Where was the provision for wildlife? We did see a small group of migrant thrushes (redwing and fieldfare) feasting on berries. And the now-ubiquitous red-knecked parakeets were evident. But not much else.. Is the RHS search for horticultural perfection (and tidiness) working against wildlife? Wildlife likes it untidy.

malus hupehensis seen at RHS Wisley

It can be lonely here in the gardening ethical left-field. On our developing patch we're creating what will become a beautiful garden for biodiversity. So, we celebrate our native flora and measure our success by the use of our numerous bird boxes and bat boxes. Stacks of rotting wood are everywhere. Where it's safe, we leave the trunks of trees as standing dead wood. This year tree sparrows nested in a hole previously excavated by a great spotted woodpecker in a rotting birch. Trees clothed in climbers. The arisings from the meadows and prunings are piled for small mammals, slow worms and nesting wrens. Our prairie beds are left in their decaying glory until the spring and today, around seventy finches were scoffing from the various seeding heads. Our stumpery of reclaimed conifer roots is a slowly decaying heaven for creepy crawlies and fungi. We are passionate about managing our garden organically and have also created many ponds. Moths are monitored with the moth light throughout the year and we welcome bird ringers too. Our first priority is to make our garden as bug-friendly as we can. 

Messages are coming thick and fast that our invertebrates are in serious trouble. The reasons are complex and involve climate change, land use and use of chemicals. If invertebrates are in trouble, the birds, mammals and amphibians that depend on them will be in trouble. And, of course, they are - as we could be too.

The urgency of the ‘mass extinctions’ facing species on our warming planet does not appear to have put a fire under the feet of our RHS yet. 

It's time for our RHS to take a lead. I was impressed by the plans for the swanky new Nature Centre at Wisley. But cultural change is needed urgently. Practices encouraging invertebrate biodiversity must run through the organisation like letters through a stick of rock. The RHS must urgently become an exemplar of a style of gardening that celebrates and encourages wildlife diversity and the central place of invertebrates. These messages should be front and central in the work the society does in educating gardeners.

the beginning of our 'willow holt'

There’s life in the old goat willow. In a neglected corner of the garden, dozens of his progeny have arisen: seedlings that have become saplings. We don't have space for dozens of mature goat willows but can manage them. We've created a willow holt where the pollarded stems at different heights will explode in the spring with new shoots like a willow firework display, celebrating all those little munchers who come to enjoy our new creepy crawly kindergarten. 

Chris Baines told us in ‘How to make a wildlife garden’ three decades ago that we should see the success of our gardens by whether leaves in our garden plants had holes.. 

How long before the RHS judge their success using this simple measure?