Flowerborders and bees and pollinators
I was reading a brilliant facebook page on pollinators by the RHS,, and a few hours later I was visiting again. The page listed the twelve best pollinators. I love the Royal Horticultural society for what it offers.
The twelve flowers are as follows :
Hylotelephium species (stonecrop or sedum)
Fuchsia magellanica (lady’s eardrops)
Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ - A perennial with bright red flowers and very dark purple-green foliage. Peony-shaped, up to 1 metre.
Hedera helix and H. colchica (ivy)
Salvia greggii and S. microphylla (autumn sage, baby sage)
Lonicera periclymenum, L. japonica and L. caprifolium (honeysuckles)
Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’ (sneezewort)
Symphyotrichum novi-belgii (Michaelmas daisy) - also known as Aster Rubin. A perennial with masses of daisy-like flowers in shades of purple, lavender-purple or white with yellow centres, in the autumn.
Elaeagnus x submacrophylla (oleaster or Ebbinge’s silverberry) - An evergreen bush with small white flowers.
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides (hardy plumbago or leadwort) - A rich blue perennial which grows to 30 cm. It likes light and well drained soil. Take cuttings from young plants, cut back older plants.
Succisa pratensis (devil’s bit scabious) - A purple perennial which grows up to 1 metre. Flowers June to October. Sow anytime in pots, best in September. Water well. Grow from seed? Relatively cheap?
Arbutus unedo (strawberry tree)
Time was spent in the lower garden and then straight to the shop.
I purchased some packet seeds which I now realise are far too early to plant. Som sunflowers, cornflowers, and poppies.
I have started reading about growing seeds, and they sound a bit hit or miss, and take several years. I did read it is best to look for clumps of flowers which are available in some of the flower shops / nurseries, and then to break up the clumps.
I am just chatting, and this maybe correct.
I should point out that I have barely stood in our garden previously. And now I wish to become a Partner RHS Garden!
Later I was searching on plantning seeds for allium and I read somewhere that these take several years.