Wildlife-friendly border planting plan

Every plant on our list is rated for its value to wildlife, so a wildlife border is built from the plants that score highest for your sun and soil. That might mean lungwort and flowering currant for early bees; catmint, knautia, scabious, marjoram and lavender through summer; asters, ice plant and tall verbena for butterflies in late summer and autumn; and coneflowers left standing for their seed heads. Honeysuckle on a fence feeds moths and birds, and mahonia gives winter flowers when little else is out.

• Aim for flowers in every season. Bees are out from early spring to late autumn, so gaps in flowering matter.
• Choose simple, open flowers. Single flowers are easier for bees to feed from than tightly double ones.
• Leave seed heads over winter. Cut back in early spring instead, so birds and insects have food and shelter.
• Avoid pesticides. Your care calendar never suggests them.