June’s the month that spring passes the baton to summer, and as daylight hours reach their peak, so does the activity in our gardens and green spaces that provide refuge for many of our species.  

Whether you’ve got a garden, balcony, pots and planters or look after an allotment or community space, there’s at least one thing we can all do to help – whatever the patch – to make wildlife welcome and help to ensure nature's recovery. From creating mini meadows on windowsills to big borders packed with plants, together, we can make a difference. 

Read on to find out which plants to grow to help bees, butterflies, birds and more.  

Plants are the foundation for any good wildlife garden or space that’s hoping to give something back to nature. The more plants the better, but that doesn’t mean you have to have a huge plot or deep pockets to pack a punch. Small can also be mighty and provide the perfect pitstop for pollinators including butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, beetles, and flies as they travel across the landscape. In turn, these insects provide food for hedgehogs who, as well as eating slugs, have a varied diet that includes beetles and caterpillars too. Birds, bats, reptiles, amphibians, and other small mammals like shrews also rely on healthy insect populations to survive. Allowing areas to go to seed once they’ve put on a flowery show can also create a beetle retreat and space for other insects. Not only that, but seed heads are attractive to small garden birds like the goldfinch at a time when food’s harder to come by later in the year. They also provide architectural interest if you can resist the urge to cut them back and leave them be. 

So, if you can do one thing for wildlife this summer (and beyond), try adding a few additional plants for pollinators to your outdoor space. Actions like these can make a real difference and it’s just one of the ways you can help tackle climate change and help species recover.  

More is more when it comes to planting for pollinators in whatever space you have available, but it’s not only the number of plants this applies to, it’s also about ensuring that the plants you choose appeal to more insects, across more of the year. So, whilst it’s true that the greater number of plants you have, the better, it’s variety and having the right mix that’s key. In a nutshell, you’re looking to provide the following: 

• nectar rich plants (including night-time nectar for moths – more on this in July’s blog, so stayed tuned!) 

• a variety of flower shapes 

• different scents and colour  

• food plants for larvae including caterpillar and moth larvae and lacewing, hoverfly and ladybird larvae for example. 

• as long a flowering period in your space as possible, with plants for all seasons 

Creating a herb garden is a great way to start, or a way of providing additional nectar sources in your space if you’re already wildlife gardening. Plus, planting up some herbs doesn’t require a lot of room and can be done on a budget.  

Many herbs are simple to grow from cuttings and from seed and can be divided easily so you can fill lots of different spots or swap plants with friends or family. Plus, they’re a feast not only for pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hoverflies, but for your senses too. For fresh additions to your culinary creations, you’ll have plenty of flavour at your fingertips.  

Chives, rosemary, thyme (especially good for small garden spaces), mint, sage and dill to name a few are all excellent sources of nectar. Other flowering herbs such as lavender, borage and marjoram also offer a nectar-rich haven, providing vital forage for adult pollinators – so you can be sure that they’ll make a bee- (and butterfly) line for whatever you’re able to provide.  

See this handy list for more on growing wildlife-friendly herbs. 

For early summer, bellflowers (Campanula), comfrey (Symphytum officinale), delphiniums, and foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) are go-to flowers for bees as well as hardy geraniums, Granny’s bonnet (Aquilegia vulgaris) and poppies, amongst others. Whilst shrubs such as hebes and Californian lilac (more commonly known by its Latin name - Ceanothus) attract a range of insects as well as bees and butterflies. For late summer planting choose verbena (Verbena bonariensis), which is particularly attractive to butterflies and moths, viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare), field scabious (Knautia arvensis), hyssop varieties and single flowering (more on this below) rose and dahlia varieties. Buddleia provides the ultimate butterfly buffet and flowers well into autumn too, but it’s a quick-growing shrub and can easily spread so be mindful of where you plant it and remove spent blooms before they set seed. In short, the greater range you can grow, the more you’ll attract as diversity is key in catering for all at your very own nectar café. See more on creating a nectar café.  

Whilst more simple plants with single flowers can be accessed by a variety of insects and therefore be pollinated by many too, some are more specialist and have coevolved alongside a particular species. These plants have a mutually beneficial relationship with certain pollinators meaning that they can only be pollinated by those insects alone. So, whilst colour and scent are the main attraction for pollinators in our outdoor spaces (and arguably us humans!), the shape of the flower determines who can access the nectar. There are many shapes of flower to choose from including hooded, funnel-, crown- and star-shaped varieties, as well as tube- and cross-shaped flowering plants. Other examples include:  

• Open or bowl-like flowers: plants like poppies and other simple single flower varieties welcome almost all insects with their shallow flowers, such as those in the sunflower family as well as some single rose varieties, which attract short-tongued species of bee and hoverflies. Cosmos is a great, easy annual to grow with simple, open flowers that provide easy access to nectar for all flying insects. 

• Bell-shaped flowers or bonnets such as Aquilegia vulgaris (hence its moniker ‘Granny’s bonnet’) are only accessible to long-tongued bumblebees like the small garden bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) which has the longest tongue of all our bumble bees. It can stretch up to 2cm, which is as long as its own body! 

As well as feeding on aphids, ladybird larvae and lacewing larvae also feed on pollen. Most species of butterfly and moth are limited when it comes to the larval stages of their lifecycle, with a relatively short list of host plants that provide what the caterpillars need. By getting to know some of these plants and including some (even typically more unwelcome plants like nettles and bramble) in your space, the more caterpillars you can provide food for and the more butterflies and moths you can support. See these top tips for planting for butterfly and moth larvae. 

It’s also important to remember that insects and other garden wildlife need our help all year round – not just the summer months. Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia), Michaelmas daisy (Aster), dahlia, coneflowers (Echinacea), pentstemons and sneezeweed (Helenium), all flower well into autumn if conditions are good. Other autumn nectar plants include ivy (Hedera helix) which provides berry-laden bursts in autumn-winter for birds as well as yellow-green flowers which are a great source of nectar for autumn insects like hornets, honeybees and red admiral butterflies.   

Could you play your part and help make your neighbourhood that little bit wilder? There are plenty of small steps we can all take to create better habitats in our own spaces. But collectively we can make a bigger difference in creating wilder communities. Working as a community with neighbours, we can make a positive impact for wildlife beyond our own ‘garden gates’. By increasing the connectivity of our individual spaces, nature can thrive. Think bee corridors, hedgehog highways and even bat buffet areas! Our wildlife depends on networks of opportunity to feed, breed and establish new populations. From building a bug hotel to creating a garden pond, see more ideas for things you can do to help wildlife.  

The work of the Wilder Communities team has been supported by South Western Railway's Customer Community Improvement Fund and The National Lottery Heritage Fund