symphytum officinale rhs wisley

Ah ..... two days of complete self-indulgence at the nations' mecca of gardening at the Royal Horticultural Society gardens in Wisley, Surrey.

Wet and cold was the weather but our spirits were warmed by all we saw.

Our last visit to Wisley saw us spending an inordinate amount of time poking around the prairie gardens and learning about the plants they used there. And inspired we were.

This time, it was the woodland areas that were at their brilliant, fresh, dripping best.

And perhaps surprisingly there was a consensus amongst us (Trev and Linda joined us) that the star plant of the two days was humble old symphytum officianale.

The symphytums share a clever trick with the pulmonarias of being full of flower but having flowers of a range of colours on each stem. This gives a greater depth and interest, especially when they are planted 'en masse'. Wildife gardeners welcome symphytums especially as bees go boogalloo for them!

There was a lovely, low-growing lemon form and then what I'm guessing was 'Hidcote Blue'. We bought ourselves a pot of 'Hidcote Blue' at the National Trust gardens at Hidcote on the way home and the poor thing was chopped into three pieces and planted in our Cedar walk garden as soon as we got it back to Cordwood.

Symphytums are also called comfrey and for organic gardeners comfrey is an almost talismanic plant. Lawrence Hills, the founder of the British organic gardening movement waxed lyrical about the health-giving properties of Russian Comfrey and the benefits its sterile hybrid 'Bocking 14' brings to the organic garden. 'Bocking 14' is really useful as its leaves contain high proportions of potassium. It is, however a garden bully and grows long roots that are almost impossible to eradicate if you change your mind about its location!

Sympytums are tolerant of drier conditions and will love the shade of our wooded setting. Expect them to become a signature plant of the Cordwood spring in the coming years!

coneflowers

Flowers of high summer, coneflowers (echinacae) are loved by bumble bees especially. The flowers have this disinct shuttlecock appearance.

While honeybees flock to the borage, they pay little attention to the coneflowers.

Bumblebees, however, slowly crawl across the flower heads of the echinacae and remain in place for minutes.

Imagine the visual impact of a large group of these flowers. We have one plant on the allotment and will divide it late in the season, but I don't think Piet Oudolf should be concerned yet.

I've added a link to Piet's website under 'In the garden'.

bee friendly Welsh poppies

I forgot to place Welsh poppies on my list of annual plants that are good for bees.


We collected seed from Newstead Abbey (Lord Byron's home) when our children were young and they self seeded across our former garden.


When we moved plants to the allotment, we took seeds in the soil and now find that poppies are flowering there.


Always a favourite, here it is flowering among chives.

Postscript: as if to emphasise the point about poppies' use for bees, Linda talks about their black pollen.

drifts of marigolds

We encourage calendula (pot marigolds) to seed amongst our brassicas.

They are very attractive to hoverflies in particular and look great.

This year, we have had more success than ever with them and there are masses between cauliflowers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, calabrese and spinach and chard.

These plants can be badly affected by caterpillars, aphids and whitefly.

The hoverflies and wasps that come along to enjoy the calendula can feast on the pests that find their way onto the food plants we grow.

Calendula has a distinctive scent and I wonder whether, en masse as they are here, this also acts to mask the scent of the brassicas?

The many shades of yellow and orange certainly create a powerful visual impact.

cheap and cheerful candytuft

Attracting beneficial insects isn't expensive.

Here an old plastic pot has been planted with a Tesco plug plant fuchsia and then undersown with candytuft.

Place in a sunny position and:

• honey bees
• gatekeeper butterflies
• wasps
• carder bees
• flies
• three species of hoverfly

..... can be seen enjoying the food in the sunshine.

Quite a punch from such little effort. The dry spell we are enjoying has been good for insects.

harlequin ladybirds get ready for winter

Ladybirds hibernate in groups over winter. Any dry corner will do. They find corners of sheds attractive and I spotted several groups in a hide at Rutland Water Nature Reserve.

You will see a wide variation in their colouration and number of spots .

Harlequins are steadily moving up the country. The concern is that they are displacing native species.... or interbreeding with them, impacting on native biodiversity.

We can only watch powerless during this remorseless, conquering northward march. We do not know the long term impact that harlequins will have on our native ladybirds and other wildlife. We can only look grimly at the example already set by the American crayfish and the collapse in our native crayfish populations and the grey squirrel and the wiping out of our native red squirrel.

bees on allotments

In the news this week has been advice that gardeners should consider keeping bees.

A conversation at the allotments was on this subject too. At Leapool, we are not allowed to keep bees because there is a ban on keeping 'livestock' and bees are considered to fall into this category. There are many allotment societies that have this rule.

Allotments without bees would ultimately be allotments without fruit, beans or anything else requiring pollination. Bees need more friends. Allotment holders and bees are a marriage made in heaven. Clearly, the rule should be changed to allow plotholders to responsibly keep bees. But, I don't think that this is all of the answer.

Too few allotment holders are gardening for wildlife and encouraging beneficial insects through sympathetic use of flowers. Without changing the rules, allotment holders could ensure that there is adequate pollination of apples and runner beans by planting simple flowers amongst their vegetables.

Pictured is a great big queen red tailed bumble bee enjoying borage flowers. Borage is the best for bees. I encourage it to grow through vigorous potato haulm - or anywhere that it won't be in the way.

Also shown are calendula and convolvulus tricolor flowers that are growing in the brassicas. Hoverflies in particular love these two flowers.

So, whilst beekeeping on allotments should be encouraged, much more can be done by individual plot holders to make their allotments 'insect friendly'.

wildlife on allotments

Enjoyed myself immensely during the week giving a talk to Nottingham Organic Gardeners about attracting wildlife into allotments.

It was great to be among like-minded folk who all shared the same passion for organic gardening.

Went around Leapool Allotments on Monday evening to see how my own allotmenting neighbours were going about attracting wildlife.

There was some good practice and I took some snaps to share on the blog.

The path shown is a delight, with lots of variety in shape and colour and great for insects.

Several plot holders used the space at the front of their gardens for attractive and insect-friendly flowers - and what can be better than lavender?

There was not as much use of flowers within allotments - so it was good to spot tagetes growing between rows of brassicas and carrots. The hoverflies will love the flowers and then be encouraged to turn their attention to the pests feeding on the brassica leaves.

in bloom

The allotment is alive with flowers in early July.
Borage fights it out with the potato haulm assisted by calendula, cornflowers and foxgloves.

Little dorrit attracts hoverfly to the root bed and young calendula are poised to flower there.

Calendula are in full flower in the legumes and amongst the brassicas & leaves convolvulus tricolor are now in bloom along with marjoram.

In the permanent beds we have left some flowering comfrey uncut to indulge the bees, a lemon verbascum has overcome mullein moth caterpillar ravages and is now in flower among the asparagus. The apples and raspberries host foxgloves.

All of these nectar sources have been aided by some very warm weather. On Sunday there was an irruption of ladybirds. Larvae (pictured), pupae and adults seemed to be everywhere. Hoverflies were very active and the borage in particular was buzzing with bumble bees and honey bees. I even spotted what appeared to be a black honeybee with a white underbelly: distinctly different.

After two wet summers that have been very difficult for insect life, it is good to see (and hear) the difference that warm weather and sympathetic management have made.

ladybird larvae

Ladybird larvae cling to leaves as they prepare to change into their adult form. Our potatoes are dotted with the pupae, holding resolutely onto the leaf but with tail ready to flick out and warn any passing predator.

The larvae need aphids to feed on and so I am glad that our broad beans were covered in them. No aphids, no ladybirds.

A lesson there for tidy gardeners who eradicate all aphids.
Live and let live.

comfrey - a bee favourite

Russian comfrey (var. Bocking 14) is the plant most commonly associated with British organic gardening.

It is a deep-rooted sterile perennial whose leaves and stems are cut to enrich compost, mulch or used to create the most potent high potash liquid feed.

It is also adored by bees.

So, instead of cutting all the plants down every month, leave a few behind to provide a nectar rich food supply to busy bees.

bee food

Trev was complaining of there being no bees at the allotments. And he's right, there are very few around.Early flowering plants like broad beans need pollinating insects - or we have no beans! One third of our food comes from flowers pollinated by insects.

But as I looked across the allotments, the consistent colour was green. What are we doing to attract and support bees at the monent. Not enough, is the answer.

I have a whole range of plants that will provide food for bees later this month and well into the autumn.

But after the primroses, cowslips , apples and plums there is a 'hungry gap' for bees and pollinating insects on our allotment that stretches through April and May. What can fill this gap?

Here's one candidiate, photographed at the Hope Farm RSPB reserve in Bedfordshire, England. It is the overwintering phacelia.

This can be sown as a green manure, but the advice when planting green manures is to dig them in or chop them down before the flower. Little use to bees!

This phacelia crop was considered highly attractive to bees and I will seriously consider planting areas that will host broad beans next year with phacelia in the autumn.

pruning buddleias

February is the moth for pruning buddleia davidii.

In high summer they have put on around eight feet of strong new growth and are flowering fit to burst. On the radio, Test Match Special reports on another dismal season for English cricket, but out in the garden the buddleias are wowing the local butterfly population.

On really good August days, buddleias can shimmer with the ecstatic fluttering wings of feeding comma, red admiral, small tortoiseshell, painted lady and speckled wood butterflies.

By February, the plant is ready to start the season's work again and so its stems need to be cut hard back.

And thus produces a problem for the sustainable gardener. What can be done with the pile of buddleia stems after pruning?

My answer is to use the prunings in three ways.

• The stems are robust and strong and so I strip them of their leaves and fleshy sideshoots and save some as garden canes. They work very well supporting flowering plants.
• The fleshy sideshoots and leaves can be chopped up and composted or used as a mulch.
• The flexible stems can be woven into hurdles to retain mulches. This is particularly useful when blackbirds or pesky hens go scritch-scratching in the mulches for tasty treats and leave me to clear up the mess. As the hurdles decay, they are useful hidey places for insects and creepy crawlies.

bee be king

The asparagus is now tall and bushy and covered in tiny, yellow bell-shaped flowers. This is the time that asparagus builds its strength so that we can enjoy the delicious spears in May and June next year.

As well as benefitting the plant and indirectly us, this period in the asparagus year is also very important for our native insects. I hadn't realised how popular the flowers were for bees until today.

There was a constant to-ing and fro-ing that was very difficult for a poor photographer to capture!

Here, a common carder bee (bombus pascuorum) is seen. Its pollen sacs are swollen and orange.

Between them, the borage and the asparagus were alive with bees today.

and they need every bit of help we can give them.

helping butterflies

I think that we all expected that our native butterflies and moths would benefit from climate change. We associate global warming with a heating and drying of our local climate. It's not working out that way.

Last year was the wettest summer on record. This year is typically English - often cool, frequently wet.
This means that for the second successive year we have had poor conditions for butterflies and moths. And don't we know it! I have seen a large white fluttering around recently, and orange tip earlier in the season. But not much else.

So, our fluttering friends need as much help as we can give them.
There is absolutely nothing on earth better for meeting the nectar needs of insects than buddleia davidii. They were introduced to this country by Victorian plant collectors and have naturalised.
They love our sandy conditions and can even be seen growing in the old wall that surrounds Lord Byron's garden in Newstead Abbey, a mile up the road.

The plant pictured is a new one, bought in the early spring and now flowering for the first time. It is flowering before the other buddleias in the garden and so will provide a longer source of nourishing nectar for all visiting insects including moths and butterflies.

We have a buddleia davidii Black Knight. It is a big, bossy plant that usually puts on eight feet of growth each year. The newcomer is much smaller, has a more prostrate habit and slender silver stems.

They all have the sweetest fragrance.

If only I could find the label!

a silent spring?

Cold winds have slowed the arrival of spring this past week. Our cordoned apples are poised to break into blossom as can be seen from the picture.

But how will our fruit crops succeed without bees to pollinate their blossom? Our honey bee population appears to be in crisis with as many as 50% of hives lost.

Was Rachel Carson right??????

pot marigolds

Food and flower production and the needs of complementary beneficial insects and wildlife need to be balanced.
In the autumn allotment leeks, chard, brassicas, squashes, beetroot and sorrel are all producing well.
And on warm October days bright orange and yellow pot marigolds brighten the garden around the vegetables. Their flowers are the classic simple style that are favoured by nectar loving insects looking for food and shelter. Hoverflies love 'em!
Pot marigolds or calendula are in full flower in October. The usual advice is to 'deadhead' the flowers once they are spent, but this is the time of year to allow seed heads to ripen to provide next years plants.
I used to collect the seeds and store them in an airtight jar, but now don't bother. The seeds ripen and fall to the soil and during spring and summer weeding I move the new, round leaved seedlings to their flowering position. And the cycle continues.
Seed heads carry their own dark beauty too.

come on, comma

Following a very late autumn last year, it is good to report that this year we have had a little cooler weather and that the trees are beginning to 'turn'. Not much leaf fall yet, but horse chestnut leaves are curling and browning and silver birch leaves are yellowing.
Michaelmas daisies are a common flower of the September garden - loved by gardeners, flower cutters and wildlife too. Today, the blooms were buzzing with bees, hoverflies and (at last) butterflies. This has been a very poor year for garden butterfly spotting but today a stand of michalemas daisies in full sun attracted red admiral, speckled wood and comma.
The comma is unmistakeable. Its ragged wings are like curled leaves and perfect camouflage against hungry birds. Its wing shapes make it unlike any other British butterfly. The comma is an overwintering butterfly. The wildlife gardener can help butterflies in the autumn by providing a source of nectar (like the michaelmas daisies) and also by not being too tidy. Butterflies spend the winter in gaps and cavities. Create some in your garden!

Snapdragons

Chris Baines talks about gardens being 'service stations' for wildlife: not able to to sustain the entire life cycle of visitors, but there to help them fill up as they move along the motorway of life. There are many plants and flowers that help wildlife, but what better at this time of year than snapdragons (or antirrhinums)? Bumble bees in particular love to bury themselves inside the flowers drinking deeply on the nectar hidden inside the snapping petals.
Lemon, white, pink or burgundy, they seed freely and for us are used as companion plants in the bean bed. They are members of the legume family and so have the added benefit of fixing nitrogen into the soil through their roots.
Who can resist the childish pleasure of squeezing them so that their mouths snap open?

Busy bees

Globe thistle echinops ritro is ideal for our garden. It tolerates dry conditions and its tall flower stems give height and structure to the border. Most importantly, it is adored by visiting insects.

In choosing planting for the garden, always think about the interest that wildlife can bring. August is a quiet time for birds, but our insects should be out in force.

Here, bumble bees find the flowers of the globe thistle irrestible. Bombus locurum is on the right and the smaller teddy bear bumble bee bombus pascuorum on the left.