Making a compost heap is such a positive thing to do. People with compost heaps enjoy fabulous compost delivered straight to their gardens and allotments, for free! Save money on council green bins and spare yourself weekend trips to the tip by starting a compost bin. Homemade compost enriches our soils and benefits nature and the environment.
Ox-eye daisies are one of Great Britain’s most endearing wildflowers. These charming large, white daisies with their golden centres light up our meadows; we should embrace these beauties, as they can bring just as much joy to our summer gardens! August and September is the ideal time to sow seeds.
The ox-eye daisy, dog daisy, or Marguerite is also known by the botanical name Leucanthemum vulgare.
Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count runs from Friday the 17th July 2026 through until Sunday 9th August 2026 – meaning the count ends today. It has been so hot and I’ve been too busy since the Butterfly Count started, so mainly due to the heat I’m sorry to say that I’ve only managed to do two Big Butterfly counts this year – both of them in my garden on the same day (with a gap in between each count).
Hardy annuals grow, flower, and die within the same year. Short-lived they may be, but their generosity of spirit and abundant flowering give our gardens a delightful floral boost, making these plants welcome additions to our gardens. Sowing seeds directly in the soil now requires less physical effort and is more economical than buying plants to plant in springtime. Spending under £10 on hardy annual seeds at the garden centre can produce enough plants to fill an average sized garden!
My heart is full of love for butterflies, so I’m encouraging everyone to take part in Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count, which starts on Friday 17th July 2026 and runs until Sunday 9th August 2026.
Bluebells (known by their botanical name, Hyacinthoides non-scripta) are one of our most beautiful British native wildflowers. In April, these graceful and elegant plants bring irrepressible delight and joy to our country walks, as their nodding flower stems and sweetly scented, bell-shaped flowers form seas of intense blue beneath the trees of many UK woodlands. Experience this majesty yourself – take an uplifting walk alongside serene carpets of bluebells at Winkworth Arboretum, in Godalming or visit another magnificent part of the UK where you can see bluebells.
Our garden plants have endured punishing conditions this year, thanks to repetitive heatwaves with record-breaking, scorching temperatures, and seemingly everlasting droughts from springtime until autumn. This had a particularly adverse effect on plants like roses that need sufficient water to grow and flower well, causing the plants to produce far fewer, smaller blooms and become frazzled, duller versions of their former selves.
Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count (18th July 2025 until 10th August 2025) is over for another year. If you took a Butterfly Count, please remember to submit your sightings to Butterfly Conservation – the data is of immense and untold value – Butterfly Conservation’s scientists use your Big Butterfly Count results to help us all understand and support butterfly species.
It’s difficult to predict what our Great British weather will deliver from one week to the next, but there are beneficial activities we can do now to make the most of whatever conditions we experience in our gardens and allotments this August.
If we’re blessed with a night without rain, followed by a sunny morning; head out first thing and harvest herbs to hang up and dry for use over autumn and winter.
Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count runs from Friday the 18th July 2025 until Sunday 10th August 2025. Taking a Butterfly Count is one of my absolute favourite things to do! I just adore watching butterflies and moths. I’d really like to encourage you to join in and take your own Butterfly Count – this is a fun activity, that’s also very relaxing and inspiring, too!
Does your garden need a boost? Do you have enough summer-flowering perennials? Treat yourself to some Echinacea, these gorgeous plants have stunning, long-lasting flowers that attract butterflies, moths, bees, and other pollinating insects.
I adore Echinacea, also known as Coneflowers. My favourites are the purple and white flowered forms of Echinacea purpurea, as well their elegant cousin, Echinacea pallida.
Plant Heritage is a charitable organisation that works to safeguard and conserve the diversity of our garden plants by encouraging the growing, propagation, and distribution of plants. National Collection holders are key to Plant Heritage’s aims, they hold documented, registered plant collections, featuring plants that are proactively propagated and conserved. Many popular groups of plants are currently without the protection of a National Collection holder, including some fabulous plants that attract a wide range of fascinating bees, butterflies, moths, hoverflies, and other important pollinators to our gardens.
Red Mason Bees emerge from hibernation this month. These bees don’t sting. Male Red Mason Bees have white hairy faces, they awaken first, followed by the dark-faced females; both are ginger in colour. After mating, the female Red Mason Bee chooses a nest site, often a hole in a wall, a bee brick, old bramble stem, or nest box. The female works tirelessly gathering mud to construct a chamber in the back of a hollow stem or tube.
I want to inspire you to support nature and Surrey’s conservation groups and make a positive difference for the Small Blue Butterfly by growing Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) in your garden, or at your school, workplace, or allotment.
The Small Blue Butterfly is Britain’s smallest butterfly; it was once common in Surrey. This rarity is classified with Near Threatened status by the IUCN Red List.
Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) is one of our beautiful British wildflowers that grows in chalk grassland, over sand dunes, across shingle, and atop cliffs, in South East England. These stunning plants should be cherished, as from late spring and early summertime, Kidney Vetch bloom continuously for around three months. Their flowers are a magnet for bees, and Kidney Vetch thrives in containers on a sunny patio or balcony.
Ilex aquifolium is the botanical name for our beautiful, British, evergreen holly. Holly’s vibrant, scarlet berries and glossy, undulating, spiky leaves delight us at Christmas time, yet these handsome plants retain their good looks throughout the year and enhance our gardens, woodlands, and wild landscapes. This holly species is a vital caterpillar food plant for the Holly Blue Butterfly. Hollies are evergreen, they shed a proportion of their oldest leaves in summertime.
I am a passionate advocate for bare root planting. Bare root plants are grown directly in the soil, avoiding the need for growers to prepare any growing media or compost, making bare root plants naturally peat-free. These field-grown plants require far fewer waterings compared to plants grown in pots. Bare root plants can also be grown plastic-free, as there’s no need for containers.
The buttered and burnished tones of falling leaves and ethereal, early morning mists enhance the beauty of our autumnal gardens and landscapes. Autumn is an evocative and reflective time, it’s the ideal moment to consider how we might improve our gardens for the future.
Is your fence looking like it lost a battle? Will your wobbly fence survive winter gales? Have you considered replacing your fences with a hedge?
Are you, your family, or community group, or your neighbourhood, village, or town planning a bonfire night celebration? Members of our community often devote significant amounts of their time and energy into creating a spectacular display for all to enjoy. Bonfire celebrations bring us together, but our actions can be harmful for wildlife.
Bonfire mounds resemble five-star luxury hibernation destinations to hedgehogs, frogs, newts, and toads, who enter seeking refuge, mistakenly assuming they have found a safe place to hibernate over winter.
Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count runs from Friday the 12th July 2024 through until Sunday 4th August 2024. Taking a Butterfly Count is one of my absolute favourite things to do! I’d really like to encourage you to join in and take your own Butterfly Count – this is such a fun activity.
