Pairing plants for best results

Ooh my first question, i'm exited
Firstly, my garden is the size of a stamp and equally so is the shape. Resin ground, fenced and that's it apart from some lovely garden furniture. My husband dilikes gardening hence the lack of greenery☹️
I do however have my first bird feeding station and i absolutely love butterflies and bees (i adore all living creatures).
In my garden i would like to attract butterflies and bees and would love some help with plants that are also dog friendly.
Any help will be gratefully appreciated

 

That's a nice project to have . And here's a nice starting point, some general advice from the RHS which also includes links to plant lists: Native and non-native plants for pollinators / RHS Gardening

I take it you're going to be confined to planting in pots? More relevant RHS advice: Top 10 patio plants for bees

Lavender, hardy salvias and nepeta seem to be the top three plants in my garden for attracting bees, and all of those could work in pots. As the RHS says, if you can manage to have a succession of plants in flower that is really helpful, to give the insects food early and late in the season. Here honey bees and butterflies and moths are mainly a summer phenomenon, but bumble bees are out feeding almost year round.

How curious do you think your dog will be about the plants? Mine (visible in the signature below) might try to chew anything that looks like grass, but otherwise isn't interested. Individual plant descriptions will tell you if a plant might be dangerous for a dog to eat - the other thing to watch out for is prickly plants. One of my previous greyhounds managed to scratch his eye quite badly once, investigating a thorny bush in the park.

 

I started a thread about the best perennial plants for butterflies a few years ago @Sharron, it might help.

Best Perennial Plants For Butterflies

Nick

 

Thank you soooo much for the advice, even more exited now (doesn't take much)

 

Hi @Sharron and welcome to the forum!

Your plan sounds great, even a hard surface stamp of a space can become a lovely wildlife friendly garden.

I'd recommend two things- an outdoor tap and as big containers as you can possibly afford, or even a raised bed. Watering is the main task with containers and, say, 50cm pots are much more forgiving than anything smaller. The outdoor tap is a blessing if it's possible to get one installed.

Oh, and on the topic of water, a water feature is a must. A large bowl type planter with some rocks to help the bathers and drinkers would be a great addition. I have a tiny solar powered fountain in mine and sparrows are mad about it.

For planting, herbs in a large container do well. Rosemary and Thyme are evergreen, Chives flower prettily and are dead easy from supermarket plant. Marjoram is also easy and useful. Mint tends to try to dominate the world so is better in it's own pot. Herbs are popular with bees if you allow at least some of the plant to flower. Herbs are draught tolerant but do enjoy good, sunny spot.

 

Oh thank you for the amazing advice, i do have a tap outside, that's one tick, herbs are a wonderful idea as i do cook with fresh herbs and i am sure we have a little water feature in the shed ( got it ages ago) so i'll ask hubby to get it as i'm scared of spiders (maybe that's why i've never took up gardening until now) but hubby isn't. I cook an awful lot with parsley, that would be great if bees or butterflies like it.

 

I love the photos by the way, they have given me some great ideas.

 

It’s great to hear that you are excited about gardening and wildlife @Sharron.

Have a look at articles, videos and books by Kate Bradbury. I believe she made a small urban garden into a wildlife haven within one year. A small pond (big bowl) pollinator friendly plants and a ‘wild’ area (long grass and some nettles will do) are the key elements.

The best advice I had was to notice where the sun is in the garden and plan plants that suit sunny areas or shady areas, same for soil type. Mediterranean herbs won’t like damp, shady areas with clay soil for example.

 

Would also recommend this book, it's by far the best I've encountered when it comes to gardening for wildlife.

 

Alchemilla Mollis is the perfect foil for all posies,
Jenny namaste