Hardy annuals are my nominated ‘plant of the month’, choose Phacelia tanacetifolia, Silene dioica (Red Campion) or Agrostemma githago (Corn cockle) for informal areas, the later two being native wildflowers. I have found all three of these to be resistant to rabbit damage, and between them create a fantastic display of flowers most of the summer.
Phacelia is most useful, I keep bees and given a sunny site, the crop provides a good source of nectar and pollen; from June to August my crop hums with the sound of happy bees. Phacelia is often sold and sown as a green manure (dug into the ground before flowering) and is sometimes used in field margins to attract hoverflies which then act as a natural biological control of pest species affecting crops (hoverflies feed off nectar (sugar) and pollen (protein), their larvae are carnivorous, feeding off aphids…) – Phacelia is a ‘must have’ for the organic / wildlife gardener.
Red Campion flowers May to June and is happy in sun or a semi shaded site, it is a native and often gives a second flush of flowers in the autumn as well as a hefty crop of seed. The seed setting may be annoying in a formal garden but in a hedgerow it is unbeatable.
Calendula officinalis (English or Pot Marigold), Limnanthes douglasii (Poached Egg Plant) and Tropaeolum majiis (Nasturtium) are all quintessential cottage garden plants, they are easy from seed and add valuable colour to garden borders (or the vegetable garden). The Pot Marigold and Poached Egg Plant are brightly coloured and have saucer shaped flowers which are preferred by most insects in search of nectar and pollen.
The Nasturtium is also brightly coloured but there are many cultivars to choose from including creams and ruby red. It is valued by the caterpillars of some butterflies and moths in particular that of the Large White Cabbage butterfly which you might think is a problem but the theory is that the eggs laid on the Nasturtiums would otherwise have been laid on your brassicas! They also attract black fly which is another example of their use as a ‘trap crop’ and as such they are considered useful companion plants in the garden but if that is not enough the leaves, seeds and flowers are edible. Similarly all parts of the Pot Marigold are edible and I love adding flowers to summer salads.
This month you can sow hardy annual seed outdoors in well prepared beds, between establishing shrubs, on spare ground, in the vegetable garden, in hedgerows, etc… and be rewarded by flowers for minimal cost and effort throughout the summer.
Angela
