Top 50 East Asian Oriental Garden plants you can grow in the UK to help our pollinating insects List Curated by Thomas McBride From research data collected and collated at the National Botanic Garden of Wales NB: Butterflies and Moths are not studied at the NBGW so any data on nectar plants beneficial for them is taken from Butterfly Conservation Creating a Japanese or East Asian-inspired Garden A Japanese or East Asian Garden features one of the most tranquil styles of modern planting. Usually featuring plenty of trees, the garden offers shade and serenity from the hot sunshine often with calming water features and a desaturated colour palate. There are also styles that feature Rhododendrons more heavily which tend to be a bit brighter. This list provides the very best native East Asian plants to create your very own piece of the orient. Planting Style Some of the most iconic plants in a Japanese garden are not particularly pollinator friendly but may be used alongside lots of the plants from this list in order to achieve a stunning effect as well as a haven for wildlife. Japanese Maples do flower but are mostly pollinated by small flies as their flowers are very discrete and small. Mosses, grasses, bamboo, sedges and ferns also feature very heavily in traditional styles to create a peaceful backdrop of greenery. These are an important part of a garden eco-system so may be planted but it is important not to solely plant these if you want to attract insects. One of the very iconic East Asian plants is the cherry tree. There are many fantastic species to plant but only one features in this list. They take quite a few years to mature but it is very much worth it. An East-Asian inspired garden will take years to perfect but can provide a serenity that cannot be achieved in other planting styles. Map Maps depict the native area of the plant (in green) Guide to using these pages: They also show areas the plant is naturalised (in purple) Latin Binomial All maps shown Name are derived from ‘Plants of the Common World Online’; English courtesy of Kew Name Gardens Flowering Period Photograph (this is when it is good of the plant for pollinators!) in flower Plant Family Insect groups known to Growing habit favour the and mature size nectar of this of the plant plant Useful knowledge or warnings about the plant RHS AGM cultivars of this species (or a related species occasionally) i Key to these Pages Warnings Additional information on these garden plants This plant would The flowers only be suitable for and/or leaves meadow-style have a Pleasant Plant tissue is highly planting scent toxic if ingested The plant has edible parts that are Sap may cause irritation Plant is often used in commonly eaten or (Wash hands after touching traditional Herbal Remedies used in cooking or avoid touching) ii Temperature RHS Hardiness Scale Some of the plants listed in our Top 200 are not fully H1a - Above 15ºC hardy in all or some parts of the United Kingdom. H1b - Minimum 10ºC Plants without a thermometer symbol are fully hardy in the severest UK Winter; equating to H5 or hardier. H1c - Minimum 5ºC Plants with a coloured thermometer symbol are hardy to varying degrees as follows: H2 - Minimum 1ºC H3 - Minimum -5ºC H4 - Minimum -10ºC H5 - Minimum -15ºC Almost Hardy Half-Hardy Not Frost Hardy Not Hardy (H4) (H3) (H2) (H1) iii Pollinators Our data on pollinators has been collected from studies spanning over a decade. Pollinator symbols appear when plants are proven to be good nectar (a) (b) plants for certain insects. It should be noted that all bee and hoverfly data is ours but lepidoptera data is taken from Butterfly Conservation. Our data spans a wide range of different insect species. For simplicity, these species have been condensed into six easy icons to represent them: (c) (d) a) Honeybees c) Bumblebees e) Moths b) Hoverflies d) Butterflies f) Solitary Bees (Includes Moths) (e) (f) iv Aconitum carmichaeli Chinese Wolfsbane East Asia ‘Arendsii’ Late Summer - Early Autumn ‘Kelmscott’ Ranunculaceae Buttercup Family 4ft Perennial Photograph from Mount Venus Nursery 1 Actaea simplex Baneberry East Asia ‘Brunette’ Late Summer - Early Autumn ‘James Compton’ Ranunculaceae Buttercup Family 4ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) Kerry Woods 2 Actinidia tetramera Rosy Crab-Apple Kiwi China Var. maloides Spring . Actinidiaceae Kiwi Family 12ft Climber Photograph from Flickr (CC) BBC Gardeners World 3 Anemone hupehensis var. japonica Japanese Anemone East Asia ‘Pamina’ Summer . ‘Rotkäppchen’ Ranunculaceae Buttercup Family 3ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) Sen Itto 4 Astilbe chinensis False Goat’s-beard East Asia ‘Purpurlanze’ Summer . ‘Superba’ Saxifragaceae Saxifrage Family 3ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) Yew Chan 5 Callicarpa bodinieri Bodinier’s Beautyberry East Asia Summer . ‘Profusion’ Autumn (Berries) Lamiaceae Mint Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Dietmut Teijgeman-Hansen 6 Camellia japonica Japanese Camellia East Asia ‘Hagoromo’ Spring . ‘Pink Perfection*’ Theaceae Tea Family Medium Shrub * Fully double flowered cultivars are not good for pollinating Photograph from Flickr (CC) Eric Hunt insects so try to buy single flowers (see photo) when7 possible. Chaenomeles speciosa Chinese Quince China ‘Geisha Girl’ Spring . ‘Moerloosei’ Rosaceae Rose Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Stanze Bla 8 Corydalis flexuosa Chinese Blue Corydalis China ‘Blue Panda’ Spring . ‘Purple Leaf’ Papaveraceae Poppy Family 2ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) M’s Photography 9 Daphne bholua Nepalese Daphne Asia ‘Gurkha’ Winter . ‘Jacqueline Postill’ Thymelaeaceae Daphne Family Small Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Timothy C E Paine 10 Deutzia gracilis Japanese Snow Flower Japan ‘Nikko’ Mid Spring - Early Summer Hydrangeaceae Hydrangea Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Dan Mullen 11 Enkianthus perulatus Dodan-tsutsuji East Asia - Species - Spring . Ericaceae Heather Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Ume Y 12 Fatsia japonica Japanese Aralia East Asia - Species - Autumn . ‘Variegata’ Araliaceae Ivy Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Cerlin Ng 13 Geranium wlassovianum Siberian Cranesbill Northeast Asia None Midsummer - Early Autumn Geraniaceae Cranesbill Family 2ft Perennial Photograph from Wikipedia (CC) Jamain 14 Hamamelis mollis Chinese Witch-hazel China ‘Jermyns Gold’ Mid Winter - Early Spring ‘Wisley Supreme’ Hamamelidaceae Witch-hazel Family Large Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Wendy Cutler 15 Heptacodium miconioides Seven Son Flower Tree China - Species - Late Summer - Late Autumn Caprifoliaceae Honeysuckle Family Medium Tree Photograph from Flickr (CC) F. D. Richards 16 Hibiscus syriacus China Rose Mallow ‘Hamabo’ Midsummer - Early Autumn ‘Woodbridge’ Malvaceae Mallow Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr by Toshihiro Gamo 17 Hosta sieboldiana Syn. H. fortunei Giant Blue Plantain-lily Japan Var. aureomarginata Summer . ‘Frances Williams’ Asparagaceae Asparagus Family 2ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) Gary Lerude 18 Hosta ventricosa Blue Plantain-lily China - Species - Summer . ‘Aureomarginata’ Asparagaceae Asparagus Family 2ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) C T Johansson 19 Hydrangea anomala Climbing Hydrangea East Asia ssp. petiolaris Summer . Hydrangeaceae Hydrangea Family 10ft+ Climber Photograph from Flickr (CC) Linda de Volder 20 Hydrangea macrophylla Large-leaf Hydrangea Japan ‘Hanabi’ ‘Zorro’ Summer . ‘Quadricolour’ Hydrangeaceae Hydrangea Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) CyprusPictures 21 Hylotelephium spectabile Showy Stonecrop, Sedum East Asia ‘Brilliant’ Late Summer - Mid Autumn -Species- Crassulaceae Stonecrop Family 2ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) F. D. Richards 22 Kerria japonica Japanese Marigold-bush East Asia ‘Golden Guinea’ Late Spring - Midsummer ‘Pleniflora*’ Rosaceae Rose Family Medium Shrub * Double flowered cultivars are not good for most pollinating insects so try to buy single flowers when possible Photograph from Flickr (CC) A. Qiao 23 Lamprocapnos spectabilis Bleeding Heart East Asia - Species - Mid Spring - Early Summer ‘Alba’ ‘Valentine’ Papaveraceae Poppy Family 2ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) Mark Wordy 24 Ligularia stenocephala Narrow-headed Leopardplant East Asia ‘The Rocket’ Summer . ‘Zepter’ Asteraceae Daisy Family 4ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) Emma Forsberg 25 Ligustrum sinense Chinese Privet Bush East Asia Related species: L. lucidum Midsummer ‘Tricolor’ - Early Autumn ‘Excelsum Superbum’ Oleaceae Olive Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) A. Qiao 26 Lilium regale Regal Lily China - Species - Summer . Liliaceae Lily Family 6ft Bulbous Photograph from Flickr (CC) Plant Image Library 27 Lilium lancifolium Tiger Lily East Asia Related sp: L. pardalinum Summer . Liliaceae Lily Family 4ft Bulbous Photograph from Flickr (CC) Katie Steiger-Meister 28 Lysimachia clethroides Gooseneck Loosestrife East Asia - Species - Summer . Primulaceae Primrose Family 3ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) Kerry Woods 29 Magnolia kobus Kobus Magnolia East Asia None Spring . Magnoliaceae Magnolia Family Small Tree Photograph from Flickr (CC) Mark Kent 30 Meconopsis quintuplinervia Harebell Poppy China - Species - Summer . Papaveraceae Poppy Family 2ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) T. Ma 31 Paeonia delavayi Delavay’s Paeony China ‘Black Pirate’ Late Spring - Early Summer - Species - Paeoniaceae Paeony Family 3ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) Leonora Enking Paeonia