All a-buzz in the trees

While we are keen to have a garden that benefits wildlife, this does not automatically mean that all of the plants in it need to be natives. Of course we encourage natives, but the established garden already has a large number of non-native, woody plants in it, so we'll be working out what works for wildlife and what might have to be replaced with something better.

Right now, the Japanese Cherry that forms a centre-piece to the lawn area is a spectacular sight. Our plant is the cultivar 'Shirotae', a variety that forms a distinctive, broadly spreading parasol of branches and bears semi-double, white flowers. Double-flowered forms often have all of the stamens converted to petals and thus have a greatly reduced benefit to wildlife. However, semi-doubles typically just have double the usual number of petals, together with all the necessary bits in the middle - so they produce pollen and nectar in the usual way. Double-flowered forms might look nice, but they are of little or no use to pollinator insects.

So our cherry has the double benefit of bee-attractant, together with larger flowers that look spectacular. Right now, the bees are having a great time and I reckon at least eight different species have been visiting the flowers today!