Really cramming your bed’s borders with nectar-rich plants will provide your visiting bees and insects with plenty of food. Through the cold winter months birds and other animals will need lots of food and to create the extra interest for them it is a great idea to allow perennial seed heads to develop around your borders. If you plan your flower borders in a sunny and sheltered area you will see the best effect of this, and if you choose flowers which flower at different times of the year you are ensuring that a continuous supply of flowers and thus their nectar are supplied all year round.

Marina endorses the growing of members of the carrot family for such effects. The carrot family can be found with eryngiums, cow parsley and astrantias.

“Cow parsley is fertilised by bees and flies, and attracts lacewings and hoverflies which eat aphids. From an aesthetic point of view, Marina recommends the daisy family, including asters, achilleas and chrysanthemums, and new varieties of echinaceas which are wonderful for attracting bees, hoverflies and butterflies.”