Anne Swithinbank
A keen fruit, vegetable and house-plant grower, Anne was formerly the glasshouse supervisor at RHS Garden Wisley.
Matthew Pottage
Matthew is the curator of RHS Garden Wisley, the flagship garden of the Royal Horticultural Society in Surrey.
Pippa Greenwood
Pippa is one of the foremost experts on pests and diseases. She gardens using organic methods.
Q What can I plant for bees now my apple tree’s gone?
Wendy, by email
A MATT SAYS New planting to replace the nectar is a good idea; our pollinator friends need every helping hand we can lend them.
Some of my favourites are the wonderful vibrant orange flowers of Berberis darwinii and the vigorous and reliable ground cover heath Erica x darleyensis. Also you could pack in lots of summer bulbs and perennials such as alstroemerias, alliums, monardas and penstemons.
Q&A TEAM ANSWER Pollinator plants
For something a little different, try the hardy annual Cerinthe major ‘Purpurascens’ – you can sow it direct in spring, or start seedlings in a greenhouse. Their waxy, blue-purple pendant flowers are something of great intrigue and the bees love them. They will also drop seed, which will germinate if given space.
For more, the RHS has made a list, covering all four seasons, of great garden plants for pollinators. Look it up online at bit.ly/rhs-pollinators.
A There are 270 or so species of bee in Britain. Their hibernation habits and tongue lengths vary, and our, or bee balm. Plant shrubby winter-flowering honeysuckles, spotty-leaved pulmonarias for late winter and ‘Concha’ for spring. Floriferous biennials such as foxgloves, sweet rocket () and viper’s bugloss () lend the garden a semi-wild charm in early summer and now is a perfect time to sow seed for planting out seedlings early this autumn and flowers next year. Cosmos will bloom into the autumn, joined by ‘Matrona’ and ‘Riesenschirm’.
