Let us take an imaginary walk through wild grasses and the UK’s blossoming wildflower meadows together. Feeling the earth beneath our feet, smelling the sweet summer scent in the air. Hearing birdsong and the smaller winged creatures such as insects busily buzzing around.

Some of those dreamy images can still be found in the countryside and within urban spaces, but biodiversity is, sadly, on the decline. Researchers and scientists have proven that many species, such as flora and fauna as well as birds, pollinating insects and animals, are disappearing. We are in the middle of a mass extinction, with predictions indicating between 1,000 and 10,000 lost species per annum, as fellow garden writer Dave Goulson states. It is estimated that around 75 percent of the world's cultivated plant varieties have been destroyed in the last 100 years. In Germany this number is even higher, reaching an alarming 90 percent and in the USA 94 percent.

Whilst this news is disheartening, let’s have a look at the positive impact we all can make today, making it our mission to help preserve and protect what is left of our home planet’s wonderful biodiversity.

With the help of a couple of nature’s flowering gems, it can be easy to create biodiverse spaces, which are undisturbed habitats where native plants, trees and flowers can grow, inviting garden visitors from the animal kingdom into both rural and urban areas. Everybody, even with very little time and resources at hand, can create those habitats on a small scale and make a big difference.

Advocating for biodiversity can start as early as today and everyone can create havens for bees and butterflies, by growing a few selected plants in our gardens, letting them grow wild and leaving them untouched. Winged visitors such as birds and insects, that are vital to our ecosystems, will follow.

In the next passages, you will find a few ideas and explore a couple of ways to bring the buzz back to our windowsills, balconies and into our gardens. The suggested plants are native to the UK and grow mainly in temperate climates such as in hardiness zones between 8 and 9.

The easiest way to grow for wildlife is to establish an undisturbed patch where native wildflowers are allowed to blossom abundantly, welcoming bees, hoverflies, butterflies, and many more insects that come to collect pollen and nectar. Habitats which are full of small, busy, foraging critters will also draw in bigger winged garden visitors, such as birds and bats for example.

If your space is limited and you are growing in pots on the windowsill, outside by your front door or on your balcony, make sure you get peat-free compost for your containers to help protect the planet. Peat extraction results in the loss and destruction of wetlands and moor habitats, accelerates the release of carbon into our atmosphere and speeds up climate change even further.

There are many pollinator-friendly wildflowers that are suitable for both growing in the garden soil and also in pots on the balcony. The wonderful herbs Hyssop, Wild Thyme, Wild Majoram and Wild Basil will flower in beautiful blue, pale purple, white and pink blooms during Spring and Summer, attracting numerous bee species and other foraging insects. Hyssop, Wild Thyme and Wild Majoram love full sunshine and free-draining soil and their leaves and flowers can be added to cooked dishes. The edible Wild Basil prefers partial or full shade and blossoms in a gorgeous pink, a colour that attracts not only bees and butterflies but also the wonderful pollinators: Moths! Sow the seeds directly into your garden soil or into pots after the last frost of Spring and keep evenly moist during the germination process.

The sight of Cornflowers, Scabious and Corncockle gently swaying in the wind, or bending slightly under the heavy-ish weight of a bumblebee queen is delightful. These three wildflowers love full sunshine, are very easy to grow and another pollinator’s favourite. Sow them in spring, as early as March or April and water regularly to ensure the seeds germinate successfully.

Two fantastic pollinator-friendly wildflowers that, when both planted in the garden, provide nectar and pollen for a large chunk of the year are the early blooming White Deadnettle and the blue-blossoming Viper’s Bugloss. White Deadnettle can serve as a rich source of nutrition for bees and bumblebees that awake from hibernation in early Spring. Viper’s Bugloss is a pollinator-friendly plant that can blossom far into the months of Autumn. Both reach a height of about 30 centimetres and are also suitable for growing in pots.

Many of us might love the taller growing wildflowers just as much as the low growing species, so let us have a look at some show-stopping whoppers that are more suitable for growing in garden soil rather than in containers. A firm favourite is the Sunflower, especially the Evening Sun variety, which never disappoints with its red petals and blossom that is dearly loved by pollinators all throughout late Summer and Autumn. The Sunflower is not native to Britain, but this stunning giant deserves a mention and praise, since it’s cherished by the bees. Sunflower seeds can be sown directly into the garden soil in May and should be protected against slugs and snails due to their voracious appetite for young leaves. Put up a bit of netting or sprinkle a layer of used coffee grounds around the seedlings, a texture and smell that the slimy garden visitors detest.

Foxgloves are another superstar amongst the British wildflowers that provide much needed nectar and pollen for foraging insects. Just like Columbine, a beautiful purple bloom, it likes to grow in partial shade and attracts crowds of bumble bees. Foxgloves can be sown between Spring and Summer and will blossom in their second year since they are a biennial, meaning that their life cycle is stretched out over two years. Make sure to keep children and pets away from this wildflower though, since all parts are poisonous. Columbine is a woodland and meadow flower that can be sown between Spring and Summer and is a perennial plant which means, once it’s been cultivated it comes back, dazzling us with its blueish-purple blossom every year.

The two sensational wildflowers, Knapweed and the sun loving herb, Clary Sage, are wonderful companions in biodiverse garden spaces. Those two are a must-have in any pollinator-friendly garden since they attract hundreds of bees. Knapweed is a perennial and Clary Sage a biennial. Both like dry soil conditions and are quite happy just being left doing what they do best - to look stunning and to provide nourishing habitats for wildlife. They don’t need to be pampered i.e. watered or fed and can deal with quite a bit of neglect. Sow both in early spring and let them take over your garden a little.

Gardening and the preservation of biodiversity can go hand in hand beautifully, and the practice of future-proof growing is of an enormous importance, making a huge contribution to the restoration of our environment. An amazing thing about growing wildflowers is that they don’t need any kind of fertilisers since they prefer to grow in “poor“ soil conditions that are often sandy and low in nutrients. There are endless opportunities to grow for wildlife, but starting to cultivate a few of these recommended plants will make a significant difference and bring back the buzz into our front gardens.

What makes me stop and wonder when I wander through the world, is always a garden - no matter how big or small. I stop to smell, to observe and to appreciate the efforts that have been planted for a better tomorrow, grown for more colourful, biodiverse and inclusive surroundings.

If you’d like me to plant a few more little seeds or sparks of inspiration, please visit me on my instagram account @confettigardens or on my blog confettigardens.com.

By following a few of these simple ideas, we will soon be living the words of Robert Louis Stevenson when he wrote: “I saw the next door garden lie, adorned with flowers, before my eye, and many pleasant places more than I had ever seen before.“

Happy Growing!

Franziska Sordon

Franzi Sordon lives in Margate and is working as a gardener, horticultural writer and illustrator. She is the founder and creative director of Confetti Gardens, a non-profit organisation that aims to inspire people to create more wildlife-friendly, biodiverse and future-proof spaces. After her MA in Art and English she started working as a Community Gardener, doing what she loves most: Growing pollinator-friendly veg and flowers and preserving the seeds of heirloom varieties.

You can find her here: confettigardens.com / Instagram @confettigardens / Twitter @franzisordon

Bring Back the Buzz

Let us take an imaginary walk through wild grasses and the UK’s blossoming wildflower meadows together. Feeling the earth beneath our feet, smelling the sweet summer scent in the air. Hearing birdsong and the smaller winged creatures such as insects busily buzzing around.

Franziska Sordon