Pollinating insects are in decline, but there are plenty of flowering plants to help them. Increasing flowering plants in our gardens can also improve fruit and vegetables: with more pollinating insects around, harvests can be bigger and better.

The Cota and Erigeron provide some groundcover and will help prevent erosion of bare soil. Groundcover plants can also help to reduce evaporation of moisture from the soil surface and suppress weed growth. 

Until the plants have filled out, an organic mulch, preferably homemade compost, can help to improve soil moisture retention and weed suppression. Mulches should be spread when the soil is already moist to help trap some of that moisture before it dries out in summer. 

1 - Berberis darwinii

2 - Berberis thunbergii ‘Maria’

3 - Cornus mas ‘Golden Glory’

4 - Cota tinctoria ‘EC Buxton’

5 - Potentilla fruticosa ‘Chelsea Star’

6 - Erigeron karvinskianus

2 - Berberis thunbergii ‘Maria’ is a deciduous shrub that is one of the best columnar golden-leaved cultivars, keeping its colour and shape well all season and bearing pale yellow flowers in spring, tinged red in bud, followed by blue-black berries. 

3 - Cornus mas ‘Golden Glory’ is a spreading deciduous shrub or small tree, with profuse golden-yellow flowers before the leaves in late winter, followed by glossy red fruits in autumn.

4 - Cota (previously Anthemis) tinctoria ‘E.C. Buxton’ is a clump-forming perennial with finely dissected green leaves and a profusion of individual lemon-yellow daisy flowers.

5 - Potentilla fruticosa ‘Chelsea Star’ is a deciduous compact shrub with small grey-green leaves and light yellow flowers in summer and early autumn. 

6 - Erigeron karvinskianus, a small perennial that is excellent at self-seeding, continues the daisy theme at the border edge with flowers opening white but soon turning pinkish-purple.