Plants for your Wildlife Garden

A good starting point…

Everyone’s garden is different and sometimes it’s about finding what plant works for you and your wildlife garden. Here are a few plants that are a good starting point.

• Bulbs:  Scottish Bluebell, Lesser Celandine, Snakes Head Fritillary, Snowdrops, Wood Anemone, Ramsons (Wild Garlic), Crocus, Winter Aconite, Grape Hyacinth
• Garden Herbs: Lavender, Sage, Wild Thyme, Fennel, Wild Marjoram, Rosemary, Chives, Mint, Carraway
• Veg (left to flower): Garlic/Allium Family, Carrots, Artichokes
• Fruit: Gooseberries, Currants, Wild Strawberries as well as soft fruit trees such as Apple, Cherry, Pears and Plums
• Mixed Native Hedges: Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Bird Cherry, Rowan, Gean (Wild Cherry), Elder
• Climbing Plants: Ivy, Wild Rose, Honeysuckle, Clematis, Pyracantha
• Trees: Birch, Goat Willow, Grey Willow, Purple Willow, Kilmarnock Willow, Hazel
• Wildflowers: Yarrow, Devil’s Bit Scabious, Mugwort, Watermint, Selfheal, Clover, Creeping Buttercup, Ragwort
• Pond Plants: Water Mint, Water Forget-me-not, Greater Spearwort, Gipsywort, Yellow Flag Iris, Marsh Cinquefoil, Marsh Marigold, Water Plantain, Brooklime, Amphibious Bistort, Bogbean, Watercress, Pendulous Sedge, Great Pond Sedge, Meadowsweet, Bittersweet, Valerian, Water Avens, Marsh Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Marsh Bedstraw, Marsh Woundwort, Cuckoo Flower
• Sandy Soils: Lesser Meadow Rue, Kidney Vetch, Red Clover, Lady’s Bedstraw, Wild Onion, Thyme, Marjoram, Goldenrod, Restharrow, Thrift, White Campion, Bird’s-foot Trefoil
• Sady Places: Red Campion, Herb Robert, Lesser Celandine, Wood Anemone, Ramsons, Wood Avens, Ground Ivy, Bugle, Dog Violet, Pignut, Enchanter’s Nightshade, Hedge Bedstraw, Fern Species
• Living Walls: Thrift, Roseroot, Sea Campion, Harebell, Sedum spp, Ivy, Thyme, Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Ground Ivy
• Wildflowers for Containers: Hairy St. John’s Wort, Marjoram, Thrift, Water Avens, Red Campion, Herb Robert, Meadow Cranesbill, Marjoram

Where can I find native plants or seed?

We know that trying to find these plants can be overwhelming. Plus not all garden centres or shops will be selling native plants. The best way to make sure you are getting native plants, is learning how to collect the seed yourself.  John Malster from Curam Fyvie kindly produced this guide to Growing local wildflowers in NE Scotland – seed collecting and sowing.

Not confident with collecting seed yourself? Scotia Seeds, the Habitat People and Curam Fyvie have native seed and plants for sale. You can even join our community of wildlife gardeners. NESBiP Wildlife Gardening Facebook Group is a great place to ask who has plants going spare!

General Pollinator Friendly Planting

If you are looking for some general pollinator friendly planting advice throughout the seasons in Scotland, NatureScot produced a Planting for Pollinators Leaflet which contains the other table of plants shown in the talk, pictured below.

Table taken from NatureScot’s Planting for Pollinators Leaflet © NatureScot

Websites such as Butterfly Conservation have detailed lists of plants which will provide nectar plants for butterflies and food plants for butterflies, as well as nectar plants for moths and food plants for moths.  If you already have identified specific butterfly or moth species in your area, you can try and support their food and nectar needs.  Remember – it is important to have food plants as well as nectar sources!  Below is the list from the talk of some of our butterfly species found locally and which larval food plants they require.

Some Butterfly Larval Food Plant Recommendations

Don’t forget about the trees and shrubs!

All the other insects we have in our garden need the right plants as well. Adding native trees or shrubs is an excellent way to support them. Remember – we want to help more than just our pollinators!  Below is a table showing how many different insects species are associated with some of our native trees – making them the best for helping support our wildlife.

Native Trees as Food for Invertebrates

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has also done some interesting research into the best ways to garden for helping our invertebrates, which also does a good job of explaining the different roles insects have in our gardens and the food chain.  This was mentioned in the talk when discussing the benefits of having a variety of native plants which are densely planted, as well as some patches of bare ground.

No mow may? Let it bloom June!

In terms of turning your lawn into a more wildflower friendly area, we already have some great information on our website including videos from the Edinburgh Living Landscape Project.  You may find these videos useful for helping you decide if you already have a potentially biodiverse lawn, and also how to manage low-growing wildflower areas.

We hope this has helped give you a better idea of the plants to have in your wildlife garden!