8 chic plant combinations for high summer
Plant community powerhouses for wildlife and us
This has been a much needed good year for plants and wildlife alike. Our garden is swarming with insects which in turn are feeding healthy populations of birds, especially an exciting number of swallows that have raised two or even three clutches of chicks. It is now, as other gardens fade, that ours hits its stride. Large plants burst through earlier waves of flowers to brush off the buttercups I didn’t bother removing. Easy bees-y.
1) Succisa pratensis with Aglais io
Devil’s-bit scabious continues to rocket up my favourite plant list for its later summer flowers that attract thousands upon thousands of insects, especially hoverflies. This week, my favourite butterfly, the peacock, has started turning up in strong numbers. Our ankles are the sacrifice for so many colourful big butterflies, stung by the far-too-many stinging nettles around our garden that their caterpillars eat.