Chelsea flower show garden inspires additions to pollinator-friendly plant list

A bug-friendly garden at Chelsea flower show has inspired additions to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) pollinator-friendly plant list.

The garden, displayed at the show in London last week, was designed by the horticulturist Tom Massey in collaboration with the Royal Entomological Society (RES). It used various techniques to attract insects, including gravel for the bugs to burrow in rather than paving stones, piled-up logs, and a large range of pollinator-friendly plants, including 106 different species.

It also featured a working lab in the middle, and scientists from the RES worked all week counting and identifying insects. They found 65 different species of insect throughout the week, and listed the bugs’ most popular plants.

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They found lots of insect activity on Trifolium incarnatum (crimson clover), which is now likely to be added to the RHS “plants for pollinators” list, as is Teucrium fruticans (tree germander). Scientists also observed that medlar had been particularly useful for bumblebees and was a great choice for small gardens.

The RHS keeps and updates the plants for pollinators listto inform its members how to attract pollinating insects to their gardens. It will be updated over time using this data and ongoing observations of plants used frequently by pollinators.

Although it was a small-scale experiment that went on for only a week, scientists plan to use some of the findings to inform their future work.

Dr Hayley Jones, an RHS senior entomologist, said:“We were so pleased to find such a diversity of insects feeding on the flowers … adding to evidence of just how important our gardens are for pollinators as well as all kinds of other wildlife.

“We hope the counts at Chelsea will help show gardeners that they can make a real difference to pollinators in their area, and once they start adding a range of flowering plants to their plots pollinators will quickly follow and make use of the new food resource.”