Following our previous blog about bug hotels, we want to highlight some of our favourite plants for providing that all-important pollen and nectar for the insects in our garden, particularly in that tricky period after spring but before summer is in full swing. We try to have a variety of flower types to meet the needs of insects with different feeding habits and to make the garden visually attractive. They are all tough plants and, in our garden, they survive slugs and snails.
Erysimum or perennial wallflowers are fantastic, particularly ‘Bowles Mauve’, as it has a good flush of flowers in spring. It then keeps going, though with fewer flowers, until the first frost. We love it because it is always alive with insects and enlivens our garden during its rather green phase between spring and summer.