Wild bees and other pollinators are in decline. One way gardeners can help is by planting garden flowers that provide forage for a wide variety of pollinating insects
A deciduous and graceful shrub, slender stems are hung with showy, lantern-shaped flowers over a long season from late spring to autumn. It likes to be grown against a warm wall with shelter from cold winds and frost
Prefers full sun / part shade in well drained soil.
This is a compact variety, bearing spires of bell-shaped, violet flowers throughout summer. It’s perfect for growing an informal or cottage garden scheme, where its blooms will attract a range of bees and other pollinators. It makes an excellent cut flower.
Prefers full sun or partial shade and a moist but free draining soil.
Larger than average trumpet-shaped flowers form in impressive clusters, each of which can last for up to 12 weeks from midsummer on this semi-evergreen perennial.. Their distinctive purple-blue and white colouring makes them particularly eye-catching. It will flourish in pots that can be moved to a sheltered spot in winter.
We also stock ‘Big Blue’, ‘Lapis Lazuli’ and ‘Seastorm’.
On this perennial, huge deep burgundy-rose flowers appear from late spring to autumn attracting bees to your garden. Attractive dark foliage is strong and upright, and will die down in autumn. Perfect for patio pots. Protect from frost.
Long-lasting, pure white flowerheads appear from July to September above attractive bronzy-chocolate foliage. This lovely clump-forming perennial is easy to grow and manage and the flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies. A versatile plant for a mixed border, where it looks great with ornamental grasses and will extend the season of interest.
Prefers part shade in a moist, free draining soil.
This perennial is a classic English cottage garden plant, forming tall erect racemes of large, fully open blooms from summer to early autumn. It’s easy to grow and perfect for planting in groups at the back of a sunny border.
Prefers full sun / part shade and free draining soil.
The elegant, slender stems of this bulb are topped with dome-shaped clusters of violet flowers in early summer, which mix easily with most shades of blue and purple. Team up with lower growing perennials that will mask the allium’s foliage, which usually dies back before the flowers appear.
We also stock ‘Graceful Beauty’.
Prefers full sun / part shade and a free draining soil.
This is a beautiful, small tree offering year-round interest, even in winter when its spreading crown of fine shoots makes a satisfying, dense, shrubby shape. In March the branches erupt with a froth of star-shaped flowers, just as the coppery pink young leaves unfold; in summer these become yellow-green, but later turn scarlet and crimson before falling. In July the tree is studded with dark red berries which become purple-black as they ripen.
We also stock ‘Ballerina’, ‘Robin Hill’ and ‘Snowflakes’.
Prefers full sun / part shade and a free draining soil.
This is a tall, branching annual, with finely divided, feathery foliage. In summer, it bears an abundance of large round blooms made up of clusters of tiny white florets on tall, branched, slender stems. The delicate clusters add beauty and depth to bouquets and meadows alike. It lends a delicate airiness to any border and is excellent as a cut flower.
Prefers full sun / part shade and a free draining soil.
Eye-catching vivid blue flowers appear almost non-stop from late spring to the first frosts on this neatly creeping plant. Easy to care for, requiring little or no deadheading, it can be used at the front of borders, on rockeries or drifted under spring-flowering shrubs and bulbs to extend the period of interest. With a neat and compact habit the slightly springy stems make this an ideal addition to pots, window boxes and even hanging baskets where the creeping stems can gently cascade over the edges. Best flowering in full sun though it will also tolerate some light shade.
A reliable, bee-friendly perennial with large Poppy-like flowers. All of the colours in the series (Blue, Pink, Scarlet and White) have flowers with a beautiful dark centre and dead-heading will keep the plant flowering from early spring to mid summer when the attractive green lacy foliage provides the interest.
We also stock ‘Bordeaux’.
Prefers full sun / part shade and free draining soil.
A fabulous perennial for brightening up the garden in late summer, and has masses of elegant, cup-shaped, white flowers on tall, wiry stems from late summer into autumn. The leaves are vine-like, dark green, and semi-evergreen. Perfect for lighting up a dark corner of the garden, or at the back of a herbaceous border.
We also stock ‘Splendens’,‘Whirlwind’, ‘Sylvestris’ and ‘Ruffled Swan’.
Prefers full sun / part shade and does well on a clay soil.