In the studio we are always influenced by nature, from the world around us we see on our morning commutes to the weekend down time visiting parks and heading on country walks. I always make sure we have some plants in the studio, and I have (almost) a whole wall at home!!
I’m currently working on our next collection, which will launch at the end of the year and lots of these plants and insects are on my watch list! With spring starting today we thought we’d share some tips on how to get the wonderful insects featured in the Bloom Collection visiting your garden this spring and summer!
Eleanor our studio intern carefully pulled together her top 5 plants to make sure you have this year, after reading this I’ve found out why I keep killing my lavender!
LAVENDER
Lavender is a very easy plant to maintain and with rich nectar makes the perfect start for attracting bees and butterflies. Plant with compost with plenty of light, even scorching, to receive full advantage of the beautiful smell. Lavender only needs watering for the first few weeks as wet soil will often kill the lavender. Make sure that when it flowers to prune well, a few inches, so that it flowers for the following year. See Bee’s in our Broom and Bee cushion
THISTLES
Thistles are perfect for adult butterflies to lay their eggs on as they hold onto the eggs nicely. With these plants labeled as weeds, it makes the perfect way to brighten up that small patch you have that nothing grows, no matter how hard you try, so just let it do its thing! It is included in most cheap seed, anything with 15% weed seed is likely to include thistles.
HEATHER
These tiny flowers are packed full of pollen, making it ideal for bees and butterflies to feast on. Heather will work well in the soil used for lavender, as it needs good drainage, an alkaline soil and plenty of light too. Heathers have developed a ‘niche’ these days for planting in containers and perform well as long as they are kept moist and not allowed to dry out. In the garden they can either be planted in odd numbered groups (the larger and bolder the better) or mixed as single plants to give a more natural display.
FOXGLOVES
These bell shaped flowers are very popular with bees and are ideally grown in shade. As most plants need full sunlight, this plant is the perfect filler in your garden. However, careful planting is required because these plants like to grow tall and wide, so space the seeds 1 to 2cm apart and make the soil loose underneath for the roots to grow properly. With this in mind, planting in the summer is required, giving you time to decide where to plant. But be careful these colourful flowers can be poisonous!
WEEDS AND WILD FLOWERS
Try to leave a section of your garden to go wild, perfect excuse to be slightly lazy! Butterfly larvae need plants to feed on to grow into beautiful insects and dandelions. Stinging nettles are also perfect for bees and butterflies!
