91 Garden design To bee or not to bee months. T


Quite frankly I’m worried. Very worried. We all should be.


In all the gardens and planting schemes I design I make a point of including as many plants as I can that offer food and or shelter for wildlife, particularly our pollinators.


However, this summer the number of bees seems to


have dropped to an horrifically low level. I have seen lavender with not a bee in sight. I have designed pol- len-rich wildflower meadows that you can usually hear buzzing. This summer they are virtually silent. I have put up a honeybee house hoping for a swarm to move in to what is a perfect habitat for them. It stands empty.


I don’t know if it was the cold spring that has caused the bees to vanish or one of the other problems that are wiping out whole colonies, but something has hap- pened. They are just not around in the numbers that we had even last year. We all know that pollinators are under threat from habitat loss, climate change and pol- lution but the paucity of bees this summer has visibly reinforced the news headlines.


Did you know here are at least 1,500 species of insect


pollinators in the UK and that a quarter of wild pollinat- ing insects have vanished from their former habitats across Britain?


They all need pollen and nectar for food and a home


for shelter. They are all vital for pollinating our gardens, wild plants as well as our crops.


It is not just honeybees who do this but bumblebees,


solitary bees, hoverflies, wasps, flies, beetles, butterflies and moths.


There are five simple actions that we can take. Even one will make a difference.


his is not the article I was planning on writing for this issue. However, this is a subject that has had shocking new impetus over the past few


Planting for pollinators


by Colette Charsley One of the few


“Quite frankly I’m worried. Very worried. We all should be.”


✿ Grow more flowers, shrubs and trees – choose varieties that offer food or shelter over those that don’t. Plan to have some- thing in flower every month of the year, particularly during the winter.


This should be alive with bees


✿ Let your garden grow a little wild in places. ✿ Mow your lawn less often. Embrace clover. ✿ Think really carefully about using pesticides. If we all take action now it may not be too late and


will certainly make a difference. Honeybees are tiny individuals but they act together towards a common end and so can we.


colette@charsleydesign.com www.charsleydesign.com t: 01548 581753 m: 07774 827799 Follow me on Twitter @ColetteCharsley


Professional Landscape & Garden Design


Creative and beautiful designs for village, town and country gardens


Colette Charsley PG Dip OCGD t: 01548 581753 m: 07774 827799


colette@charsleydesign.com www.charsleydesign.com


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