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Home & Garden Hannah’s Horticulture... with Hannah Hobbs-Chell

Horticulturist and garden designer/ consultant Hannah is the gardener at High Mead Farm, looking after four acres of gardens and landscape. If you have a question for her, email:hannah. hobbschell@outlook. com including a picture if relevant

TEXTURES: Azaleas brighten up shady areas. Above, to attract wildlife, you have to try and think like them

Welcome to my new Q & A column, where I will be taking as many questions as I can from readers and doing my best to answer them. I love hearing from people and helping them with their gardens and design, so please do get in touch if there is a question you need answering!

Like many, I would like bees and birds in my front garden. What mix of plants would your recommend, so we can enjoy a long colourful garden enjoyed by our birds and bees, and aesthetically pleasing? To attract any wildlife, you have to try and think like them – why would they come to your space? Food and shelter are the primary reasons, and therefore the qualities you should look for in plants. Different height shrubs and trees, some evergreen, are critical for shelter for birds, and some, such as those with berries (or with caterpillars/greenfly etc), provide food too. Put out bird feeders – if in the front garden you are worried about things going wandering, concrete the stand in to the ground. Most hedges are also wonderful habitats for birds and wildlife in general, and also far more efficient than a fence at blocking any traffic noise from outside your home. For bees, anything with a simple flower (not double), tubular, purple (or yellow in the winter) flowers are excellent, and keep things hydrated as nectar production decreases in the summer when plants are thirsty and hot – at a time when bees need extra energy to keep their hives cool. The RHS has a wonderful set of lists covering suitable plants that benefit pollinators all year round: rhs.org.uk/science/ conservation-biodiversity/ wildlife/plants-for-pollinators

We have a shady area in our garden. Are there any pretty plants we can buy? Shady gardens lend themselves well to contrasting foliage plants, which will pick up the different light levels and add richness with their shapes and textures. Think variegated hosta for instance, where that flash of white on the leaves will jump out, and ferns and acers add that sculptural shapely interest. For flowers, I suggest azaleas, anemones, epimediums, cyclamen and spring bulbs. all the bulbs growing round it? With great difficulty! You can pull up the leaves when they emerge, and whilst you won’t probably remove the bulb you will weaken it gradually as it won’t be able to photosynthesize. The only other alternative would be to spot treat them with a suitable herbicide, which you may or may not wish to do. Do not treat with herbicide when it is flowering or due to flower, due to the risk of residues in the nectar.