In spite of not the best weather in the world, the late summer butterflies I expect to see in my garden at this time are doing well and feeding on Echinacea and Verbena which I have planted in some quantities in the nectar borders. Filling a garden of this size with plants could have been a very costly experience, but I am a great believe in ‘growing my own’ and love seed sowing and pricking out and all the fiddly gardening jobs that some people dislike. This is also a good time to look at borders and make decisions about how to improve them next year and more of the same in terms of good insect attractants is the way to go. I only have to see a butterfly or bumblebee on Echinacea to know that its definitely worth planting a few more.
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About wildlifegardening
Jenny Steel was a Plant Ecologist at Oxford University before becoming a writer. She has more than 20 years experience of writing about and teaching ecology, natural history and wildlife gardening. She is also a photographer, journalist and former plant nursery owner, and a lecturer and tutor in adult education. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television programmes including Gardener’s World with Alan Titchmarsh, and she presented a series of items on the BBC 2 gardening show, How Does Your Garden Grow. She has worked with and written for a variety of organisations including the Royal Horticultural Society, Natural England, Atropos, Ernest Charles, the Adult Residential Colleges Association (ARCA), Haiths, Usborne Books, Complete Gardens, Oxfordshire County Council, the charity Growing Native and several of the Wildlife Trusts. She is also the Garden Bird Guru for the wild bird food company JustAddBirds of which she was a co-founder. The Emmy Award winning film company Panache Productions are currently making a film about her wildlife garden in South Shropshire. She has written 10 books on wildlife gardening. Her website can be found at www.wildlife-gardening.co.uk and her bird food company at www.JustAddBirds.co.uk
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