The Irish Gardener Peter Dowdall explains why we should be making our gardens a refuge for wildlife this winter
Perhaps the most important value of the garden is that it provides food, shelter and refuge for pollinating insects and beneficial wildlife, without which we simply would not survive.
We tend to forget about the aesthetic beauty of winter berries as well. They can actually give so much colour, maybe not as much as summer, but they do give great colour in the winter, as well as being an important food source for birds, squirrels and hedgehogs. It’s also important that the berry plants we use are native because the wildlife have coexisted and adapted with native plants over millennia. So things like hawthorn, rowan, guelder-rose, spindleberry and holly, of course.
Winter flowering plants like heather are beneficial to the bees, which is important for this time of year too. In fact, a 2018 study from DCU and TCD found honey made from Irish heather has a similar amount of powerful antioxidants as the renowned Manuka honey. Particularly if you have a larger garden, keep the bees in mind when choosing trees. The flowers from our native willow are very beneficial to them and any pollinating insects that are around in January and February.
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