Top 50 A selection of medium to large shrubs and small trees that you can grow in UK gardens to benefit 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 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 Abelia x grandiflora Abelia chinensis Abelia uniflora Garden Abelia Abelia chinensis x Abelia uniflora East Asia ‘Hopleys’ Midsummer - Early Autumn ‘Lake Maggiore’ Caprifoliaceae Honeysuckle Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Manuel M Vicente 1 Amelanchier lamarckii N. America Snowy Mespilus - Species - Spring . Rosaceae Rose Family Small Tree Photograph from Flickr (CC) Ekenitr 2 Berberis darwinii S. America Darwin’s Barberry - Species - Spring . x media (Hybrid with B. empetrifolia) Berberidaceae Barberry Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Harry McGregor 3 Buddleja davidii China Common Butterfly Bush ‘Black Knight’ Summer . ‘Dartmoor’ Scrophulariaceae Figwort Family Large Shrub Photograph © Thomas McBride 4 Buddleja globosa S. America Orange-ball Butterfly Bush -Species- Summer . ‘Sungold’ (Hybrid) Scrophulariaceae Figwort Family Large Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Margrit 5 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) when6 possible. Ceanothus arboreus California Island Californian-Lilac ‘Autumnal Blue’ Mid Spring - Early Summer ‘Trewithen Blue’ Rhamnaceae Buckthorn Family Small Tree * This plant will not survive below -10’c night temperatures, protect from very harsh winter nights Photograph from Flickr (CC) Eliot Phillips, Johnson Earls (Close-up) 7 Cercis siliquastrum Eurasia Judas Tree ‘Bodnant’ Spring . Fabaceae Legume Family Small Tree Photograph from Flickr (CC) Andreas Rockstein 8 Chaenomeles speciosa Chinese Quince China ‘Geisha Girl’ Spring . ‘Moerloosei’ Rosaceae Rose Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Stanze Bla 9 Cistus x purpureus Mediterranean Purple Rock-rose Cistus ladanifer x Cistus creticus Cistus Cistus ladanifer creticus -Hybrid- Summer . ‘Betty Taudevin’ Cistaceae Rock-rose Family Small Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Franco Folini 10 Cornus mas Eurasia Cornelian-cherry ‘Aurea’ ‘Jolico’ Late Winter - Early Spring ‘Golden Glory’ Cornaceae Dogwood Family Small Tree Photograph from Flickr (CC) Andreas Rockstein 11 Cornus sanguinea Europe Common Dogwood ‘Magic Flame’ Summer . ‘Anny’s Winter Orange’ Cornaceae Dogwood Family Large Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Andreas Rockstein 12 Crataegus laevigata Europe Midland Hawthorn ‘Punicea’ Spring . ‘Rosea Flore Pleno’* Rosaceae Rose Family Small Tree * Double flowered cultivars are not good for most pollinating insects so try to buy single flowers when possible Photograph from Flickr (CC) Peter Stenzel 13 N. America & Dasiphora fruticosa Eurasia Garden Potentilla ‘Chelsea Star’ Early Summer - Early Autumn ‘Limelight’ Rosaceae Rose Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Irmeli Hasanen 14 Deutzia gracilis Japanese Snow Flower Japan ‘Nikko’ Mid Spring - Early Summer Hydrangeaceae Hydrangea Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Dan Mullen 15 Enkianthus perulatus Dodan-tsutsuji East Asia - Species - Spring . Ericaceae Heather Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Ume Y 16 Erica arborea Afro-Eurasia Tree Heather * var. alpina Spring . ‘Estrella Gold’ Ericaceae Heather Family Medium Shrub * This plant will not survive below -10’c night Photograph from Flickr (CC) Tim Waters temperatures, protect from very harsh winter17 nights Exochorda Exochorda x macrantha racemosa var. Garden Pearlbush grandiflora Exochorda albertii x Exochorda grandiflora* Exochorda racemosa var. albertii C. Asia China ‘The Bride’ Late Spring - Early Summer Rosaceae Rose Family Medium Shrub * The two parents were originally considered separate species Photograph from Flickr (CC) Tim Waters due to geographic separation, however, genetic studies show they might simply be different variants of Exochorda18 racemosa Fatsia japonica Japanese Aralia East Asia - Species - Autumn . ‘Variegata’ Araliaceae Ivy Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Cerlin Ng 19 Hydrangea macrophylla Large-leaf Hydrangea Japan ‘Hanabi’ ‘Zorro’ Summer . ‘Quadricolour’ Hydrangeaceae Hydrangea Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) CyprusPictures 20 Hydrangea paniculata Panicled Hydrangea East Asia ‘Big Ben’ Summer . ‘Pinky Winky’ Hydrangeaceae Hydrangea Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Jack Wolf 21 Hypericum addingtonii Hypericum x hidcoteense Europe China Garden St John’s Wort Hypericum calycinum x Hypericum x cyathiflorum* S. Asia Hypericum calycinum Hypericum hookerianum ‘Hidcote’ Midsummer - Early Autumn Hypericaceae St Johns Wort Family Medium Shrub * Hypericum x cyathiflorum is a cross between Photograph from Flickr (CC) Allan Harris H. addingtonii and H. hookerianum22 Europe & Ilex aquifolium N. Africa European Holly Spring . ‘Amber’ ‘Argentea’ ‘Golden Queen’ A/W (Berries) Aquifoliaceae Holly Family Medium Tree Photograph from Flickr (CC) Randi Hausken, Bjorn S(Flowers) 23 Jasminum fruticans Afro-Eurasia Yellow Jasmine None Late Spring - Early Summer Oleaceae Olive Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Jean-François Bousquet 24 Kalmia latifolia N. America Mountain-laurel ‘Freckles’ Mid Spring - Early Summer ‘Pink Charm’ Ericaceae Heather Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Nicholas A. Tonelli 25 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 26 Laburnum anagyroides Europe Golden Chain L. anagyroides x L. alpinum Late Spring Laburnum x - Early Summer watereri ‘Vossii’ Fabaceae Legume Family Medium Tree Photograph from Flickr (CC) Maja Dumat 27 Magnolia campbellii Campbell’s Magnolia East Asia ‘Darjeeling’ Spring . Magnoliaceae Magnolia Family Medium Tree * This plant may not survive below -10’c night Photograph from Flickr by Bernard Spragg temperatures, protect from very harsh winter28 nights Magnolia stellata Star Magnolia Japan ‘Centennial’ Spring . ‘Royal Star’ Magnoliaceae Magnolia Family Small Tree Photograph from Flickr (CC) Ting Chen 29 Mahonia aquifolium N. America Oregon Grape ‘Apollo’ Spring . Berberidaceae Barberry Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Maja Dumat 30 Malus floribunda Japanese Crab Apple Korea Spring . - Species - Autumn (Fruits) Rosaceae Rose Family Small Tree Photograph from Flickr (CC) Maja Dumat, Vanlap Hoàng (fruit) 31 Malus baccata Malus Malus x robusta prunifolia Siberian Crab Apple Malus baccata x Malus prunifolia Asia East Asia Spring . ‘Red Sentinel’ Autumn (Fruits) Rosaceae Rose Family Small Tree Photograph from Wikipedia (CC) Rasbak, Juhele_CZ (Fruit) 32 Philadelphus coronarius Anatolia Sweet Mock-orange ‘Aureus’ Late Spring - Midsummer ‘Variegatus’ Hydrangeaceae Hydrangea Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Stanze Bla 33 Prunus incisa Fuji Cherry Japan ‘Fujimae’ Spring . ‘Kojo-no-mai’ Rosaceae Rose Family Small Tree Photograph