Extra
Flowers add immense ornamental value to your garden. You will greatly enjoy a colourful sea of flowers. We may enjoy looking at flowers, but insects, such as bees and butterflies, need them for sustenance. The pollen and nectar serve as food. So, plant extra flowers in your garden. Summer bulbs are true flower producers and you can never have too many of them.
Summer bulbs
Summer flower bulbs are champions at producing lots of flowers and supplying nectar and pollen. Your best choice is blazing star (Liatris). Abyssinian gladiolus (Gladiolus callianthus), Crocosmia and open-hearted dahlias. With the masses of buzzing bees and fluttering butterflies, your garden will be a joy for the insects and for you.
Variety
Just like humans, not all bees and butterflies eat the same things. That’s why it is important to make sure that there is a variety of food in the garden, in the form of nectar and pollen. You can provide this with a ‘flowering arch’; a varied range of plants with different flowering periods. Summer bulbs are an excellent addition to the diversity. This will ensure that food is available year round.
Dahlias
The Dahlia is a summer bulb that provides insects with food for a very long period. This is because they continue to bloom until the first frost, in other words, well into autumn. Dahlias produce new buds if you deadhead them. Once a flower has wilted, remove it so that new flowers and new food can grow.
Balance
Biodiversity simply means diversity of life forms. No fish without plankton, no monkeys without trees, and no bees without flowers. The different varieties of animals and plants keep each other in balance. Combined, they form a living and productive nature. Together, we can help improve biodiversity, starting in the garden. Will you join us?