Choosing the Right Plants for your garden
One of the attractive things about certain plants is what they, in their turn, attract into the garden. Summer-flowering plants with purple or blue flowers such as Lavender, Catmint or Buddleia are particularly good for bringing in butterflies and bees. Later in the summer, one of the best plants for butterflies and bees is Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, which goes on and on flowering until early winter.For the birds, winter food is important, and plants such as Holly, Ivy, Hawthorn and Elder provide tasty berries, as well as shelter for nesting and perching. If space permits, you should laways have at least one tree in the garden, such as Mountain ash (Sorbus) or Mespilus (Amelanchier).
Plants such as Teasel, Sunflower and some grasses provide good seed heads for winter food, and provide a good structural element in the garden when many plants are underground and invisible. These should be left uncut over the winter, and chopped down in early March.
The other important thing to consider when choosing plants is that they are suited to the conditions of your garden, and will thrive there. It’s worth spending some time getting to know your garden before you choose any plants for it. Consider its soil, exposure to wind, orientation etc. One of the pitfalls of many new homes is that the soil is a thin layer spread over what was once a building site. Choosing plants that can cope with these conditions will be an awful lot easier than attempting to change the soil structure.
Plants such as Teasel, Sunflower and some grasses provide good seed heads for winter food, and provide a good structural element in the garden when many plants are underground and invisible. These should be left uncut over the winter, and chopped down in early March.
The other important thing to consider when choosing plants is that they are suited to the conditions of your garden, and will thrive there. It’s worth spending some time getting to know your garden before you choose any plants for it. Consider its soil, exposure to wind, orientation etc. One of the pitfalls of many new homes is that the soil is a thin layer spread over what was once a building site. Choosing plants that can cope with these conditions will be an awful lot easier than attempting to change the soil structure.