I grow wildflower seedlings every spring and summer and Autumn but half of them havnt come to much only a few of them have. I usually prefer planting wildflower seeds to buying from garden centres. Iv got some new wildflower seeds St jhons wart cowslip and ox eye Daisy and a mix cause they havnt come to much but while Im waiting I would like to have at least one wildflower plant already ready for the bees cause it’s spring while I’m waiting for the wildflowers to grow. I usually get them from highfield garden world if I do buy any but the garden is pesticide free therefore I don’t want any on the flowers from garden centres when I buy them highfield garden world is environmentaly friendly and does things to help nature and climate change but I don’t know weather when the plants arrive at there store they have pesticides then I don’t know weather any non natives and hybrids are ok even if it’s one known to attract pollinators iv tryed to find out if there ok or not cause I bought scabious butterfly. Known to attract them but I didn’t realise it was a hybrid until after I bought it so not sure weather to plant it or not and weather to plant any non native wildflower seeds or just stick with native cause I can’t find anything that says weather hybrids and non natives are good for them or not and if it’s best to stick with native wild plants. And I want to plant the correct things to attract more bumblebees and solitary bees and also butterflys mainly for them but also for I spot. are non natives and hybrids ok and are natives better for bees than non natives and hybrids?
This page might help:
Out of that list I only have foxgloves but also allow dandelions to grow in certain places as their flowers are always popular with pollinators. I have sandy soil so I get a mix of solitary burrowing bees, plenty of hoverflies, bee flies and even had a bumble bee nest one year - although a badger found it and dug it up!
A much more extensive list is shown here: Plants for Pollinators advice and downloadable lists / RHS Gardening but this might be a bit overwhelming
Dave Goulson is pretty expert. This page will help: [Best Bee Plants: Lists Of Flowers, Herbs And Shrubs To Attract Bees]
Thanks for the links. Are natives better than non natives and hybrids when wildlife gardening then?
I wouldn’t say so necessarily about non-natives. I don’t know about hybrids apart from avoiding any double-petal types that apparently aren’t attractive to insects. It’s good to have a mix. Some plants are thugs, native or not!
Have a read of this and a couple of the links: Myth: Only natives?
PS I’m a gardener, not a botanist 
Thanks. Iv been looking more into it and some non native plants are ok while others not it all depends on weather the non native is invasive enough to escape into the Wild where they didn’t used to be until they were introduced and take over native plants or cause other problems for the environment. So there are some You need to be careful about but not all non native species are invasive enough to escape and cause problems for natives. It is a myth when things say only plant natives or say that only natives are better for wildlife than non natives cause that treats all non natives like there the same and all bad but the truth is some are good for pollinators and at the same time dont cause problems for wildlife whereas others might not be good pollinators but not necessarily considered invasive and wouldn’t escape out into the wild. And then there’s others that are good for pollinators but can escape into the wild and cause problems for wildlife and the natural environment even though pollinators like them
Some plants can escape into the wild and cause problems Regardless of weather a plant is good for pollinators or not so some species can be invasive so even if a plant is good for pollinators it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for the natural environment and wont cause problems for native wildflowers aswell. So regardless of weather a non native plant is good for pollinators or not we should still be careful not to plant or introduce any species that could cause a problem for other wildlife. There is non native species that arnt known to escape into the wild and cause problems aswell so those are the ones to look out for if you want to plant natives and non natives it’s best to avoid the ones that could escape and cause problems and go for the ones that dont. of course some non natives are good for wildlife some not. go for the non natives that have an abundant source of nectar and that benefit both pollinators and the natural environment at the same time.
It’s good to try and have a mix of flower shapes as different insects have different adaptations, and also try to have something in flower throughout the year if you can.
Yes some good examples would be short toungued and long toungued Bumblebees and also hoverflys the 7 or 8 common Bumblebees have differant toungued for different flowers some have short toungues so prefer flowers that arnt long and tubular flowers and and long toungued Bumblebees have adapted toungues for deep tubular flowers so that they can reach where short toungued Bumblebees can’t some Bumblebees also have there own preferences some might prefer flowers with platforms like red deadnettle whereas others might prefer flowers that don’t have a platform that you can just walk around on. one species of Hoverfly long snouted has a long snout so that it can reach where most hoverflys can’t. Then there’s moths like the Humminbird Hawkmoth it looks and acts like a hummingbird but isn’t and it has a longer proboscis than our common Bumblebees one like a hummingbird so that it can reach even further than most long toungued pollinators that don’t have a proboscis like a hummingbird like the hummingbird Hawkmoths there are also other adaptations not just how big or small a proboscis is that can affect what shaped flowers they prefer
Im trying to grow cornflowers with it sprouted from seeds successfully and started doing very well then it started to slow down abit I don’t know how to speed up its growth and I want to make sure they grow in time for when they flower I got a couple of them but I’m keeping an eye on the 2 that I saw germanate from the cornflower seed and watching this one Exspeacially since I’m keeping track of its stages
The photos are of one particular seedling iv taken photos of its growth over this month cause i sowed them this month
You know I mentioned the hybrid plant I bought that is known to attract Butterflys iv just found it that it definitely works im just hopeing it doesn’t have any pesticides On it
I wasn’t sure weather to put it in a border cause I didn’t know weather it will definitely work and also cause I don’t know if it had pesticides put on it before being sold to highfield garden world, Whitminster, Gloucestershire in the plantarium section and im going to be getting a trawl. of course I know it does definitely attract them so it works I haven’t seen how many it attracts yet though this is the first butterfly iv seen on it but more importantly I don’t want the plant to be poisoning them if it does have pesticides on it do you think I should put it in or not?
Buddleja is the classic ‘butterfly’ plant. We find Verbena is also very good.
Hemp agrimony attracts a lot of pollinators but is a bit of a thug.
I do have a Budleija plant but it doesnt flower until summer the lavender feels like it’s takeing ages aswell cause it flowers in summer. Thing is most of the plants flower in Summer in the garden so I was desperate to have flowers ready in spring I was after scabious and thought this was a scabious plant it does say scabious butterfly and wanted one that (will) attract Butterflys Cause I dont usually get them in the garden until the summer. but I wasnt aware it was a hybrid when I bought it until after I bought it then I found out it was scabiosa then after I bought it I worried about the possibility of there being pesticides on the plant cause most plants from garden centres do have pesticides on them from before they arive at a garden centre. even if a place doesn’t use pesticides theres no guarantee there won’t be any on the plant when they arive at a garden centre and The pesticides can stay on for a year. this is before I found out about the nurserys you can get them from instead
Even the RHS cant guarantee all plants are pesticide free that is why they changed it from perfect for pollinators to plants for pollinators cause it shows people the best plants for pollinators without commenting on how it’s grown
Herea some screenshots from the link but there’s a lot more information in the link about stuff
This plant had the plant for pollinators logo but there’s no guarantee it doesn’t have pesticides on the plant from before it arived at the garden centre I got it from when I bought the plant