GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE
Echinacea Echinacea purpurea Teir spiky seed heads stand tall through winter, offering shelter for insects and a vital food source for hungry finches and other seed-loving birds.
Honesty Lunaria annua Tese papery silver seed pods are a winter must have. Beautiful and sculptural, providing shelter for insects and lingering seeds when food is scarce.
Miscanthus Miscanthus sinensis Rustling in the wind, its dense growth offers hiding spots for birds, mammals and insects, plus nutritious seeds through the long winter months.
Ivy
Hedera helix Te garden’s unsung hero! It’s evergreen leaves shelter nesting robins in spring, while fruits and seeds provide a vital food source for other birds in winter.
Rudbeckia Rudbeckia hirta Resist the urge to tidy! Tese bright summer blooms leave behind crispy, black seed heads that feed birds and shelter insects, standing elegantly through the winter.
Knapweed Centaurea nigra Tistle-like and wild, knapweed bursts with nectar rich purple blooms in summer. By autumn, its fluffy seed heads feed goldfinches and fluter across meadows.
Sea holly Eryngium A prickly, garden ghost. Spiky, thistle-like sea hollies that thrive in dry, coastal spots. Loved by pollinators in summer and birds in winter.
Sedum
Sedum anglicum Easily Becky’s favourite winter plant, sedum’s tall flower heads offer late autumn nectar for bees, shelter for
overwintering insects and look stunning covered in frost.
Cumbrian Wildlife | November 2025 43
ILLUSTRATIONS BY HANNAH BAILEY
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