A visit to the national Wildflower Centre at Liverpool has more to offer than wildflowers. A wall of insect homes has been created from old building materials, timber and cardboard. It’s been there a while and has been colonised by plants too. Some of the plants are grown for the insects, or more accurately for their larvae. For example wild hops are food for the caterpillars of the Peacock butterfly.

Tidy gardens are lovely but many small creatures and insects need shelter. So they need our help to provide homes for them. They like crevices in dead wood, bamboo canes and old flower stalks, piles of terracotta pots, roof tiles, stones and old bricks to hide in throughout winter.

 

The wildflowers are grown in a variety of conditions to simulate their preferred environment. This month the predominant colours are orange, yellow and white.