Important For Bees

Proponents of alfalfa describe it as a wonder crop. As a green manure, alfalfa can be grown for a few months or a year. The plants are able to fix large quantities of nitrogen from the air, its long roots break up soil pans, prevent erosion and improve soil and water quality.

A beautiful, robust ground cover variety of the every popular Geranium sanguineum; ‘Vision Violet’ produces masses of large luminescent violet flowers from early spring to summer. The blooms cover this compact, mounding plant with intricately cut leaves.

‘Vision Light Pink’ produces masses of large luminescent light pink flowers with red veins from early spring through to late summer. This long-lived, drought-tolerant perennial is useful as a small scale groundcover and in mixed borders. Use it in rock gardens, stone walls or even in container plantings.

Geranium pyrenaicum is a European species and well known for being one of the most floriferous of Geraniums. 'Summer Snow' is an easy to grow, yet hard to find white flowered cultivar which produces profuse quantities of white flowers each with deeply notched petals.

"Splish Splash" is a fascinating, rare and prized border plant and one of the most beautiful, striking and unusual perennial geraniums. Very easy to grow, the clumps of divided foliage are topped with mauve-blue splashes and flecks on pure white petals, each petal appearing to be individually designed and painted.

'Dark Reiter’, is a fairly new cultivar originating from 'Victor Reiter' whose namesake was the legendary California nurseryman. What sets this plant apart is the new leaves that emerge a light maroon colour then fade to a purple-flushed deep green, it produces violet-blue flowers in spring.

The beautiful, soft violet-blue flowers make the meadow crane’s bill one of our most distinctive wildflowers. Perfect for a meadow, it is often planted in gardens as it flowers for a long time, it must be one of our loveliest wild flowers and worthy of a place in any border.

Geranium 'Orchid Blue' is a simply stunning plant, producing clusters of saucer shaped flowers of a rarely seen shade of pure orchid-blue, each with purple-violet veins. This new-on-the-scene plant soon spreads to form low hummocks of deeply cut soft green, leaves.

Galega officinalis is an ancient ornamental plant that produces a delightful natural effect in the garden. The plants have handsome foliage and they errupt in spring to produce countless sprays of fragrant lavender-blue flower spikes, each with mini-sweet pea shaped flowers.

This attractive sea holly forms clumps of evergreen, soft, deep green heart-shaped leaves. In early summer, the thin wirey stems emerge, set with spiny leaves. The branched stems carry a profusion of small, sea holly flowers in bright, steely blue. It prefers full sun and well-drained soil.

Echium vulgare is a valuable native plant and is exotic enough to earn a place in a flower border. The plant is much loved by almost all bee species. If you don’t want plants that honeybees simply visit, but want to select plants that honeybees clearly love, choose Echium for your garden.

If you don’t want plants that honeybees simply visit, but want to select plants that honeybees clearly love, choose Echium for your garden. Echium 'White Bedder' bears the most beautiful dense spikes of exquisite, pure white flowers. Make successive sowings for continuous flowering throughout the summer.

Echium plantagineum 'Pink Bedder' is a companion plant to the original 'Blue Bedder'. The blooms are rich in nectar and pollen, use in the border or as part of wildlife friendly planting schemes. The plant repeat blooms throughout the summer into autumn, providing nectar for bees for overwintering.

Echinacea purpurea is one of the most versatile perennials for the garden. Flowering from early July right through to September, it is sturdy and self-supporting, hardy and easy to grow, undemanding and suitable for both the formal border and the meadow look.