Why plant an apple tree for wildlife this autumn
One tree, a whole year of wildlife, and months of delicious homegrown fruit – how and why to choose and plant an apple tree, however small your space
Embrace ivy in your garden this autumn
Not just background greenery, but an autumn wildlife support system – why this overlooked wildlife wonder plant deserves a spot in your garden
Walk past an ivy bush in full flower in autumn, and you’ll be hit with the unmistakably sweet, heady scent of thousands of -packed golden blooms. On a mild day, the whole bush can be abuzz with ivy bees, an autumn-active bee that emerges late in the season specially to coincide with this fragrant pollen-fest.
It's a reminder that as the days shorten in October, the garden doesn’t just switch off. Many creatures are making the most of the autumn days and the longer nights, and ivy can help keep them well fed.
What makes ivy great for wildlife?
Ivy is our Wildlife Wonder plant for October. Its greenish flowers may not look the most showy, but they open late in the year, when many other plants have finished. On a mild day, a flowering ivy plant can be alive with honeybees, bumblebees, solitary bees, hoverflies, wasps, butterflies, moths and beetles. That’s a remarkable crowd for one often-overlooked climber.
The ivy bee is a specialist bee that relies almost exclusively on ivy for food, and times its lifecycle around the blooming season.
An ivy bee, Colletes hederae, feeding on ivy flowers
After dark, some of those insects become part of another story, too. All of Britain’s bats eat insects. Moths are important prey, alongside midges, mosquitoes, beetles and other night-flying insects. So when we grow plants that support insects into autumn, we’re also helping to stock the larder for bats.
Later in autumn, ivy flowers develop into rounded blue-black fruits. Though we can’t eat these, they provide a winter larder for birds such as blackbirds, thrushes, starlings, pigeons, robins and redwings.
Where and how to grow ivy
The key to maximising ivy’s value to wildlife is maturity. Young ivy makes the familiar lobed leaves and climbing stems. Older growth changes character – the leaves become less lobed, the stems turn shrubby, and autumn flowers start to appear. If ivy is clipped hard every year, it may never reach this flowering stage, so where space allows, leave a section to properly mature.
Ivy is very easy-going. It grows in sun or shade and in most soils, provided they are not . It can cover a fence or wall, scramble as groundcover and provide dense evergreen shelter. Prune it if you need to keep it clear of gutters, windows or roof spaces, but prune after flowering where possible and avoid removing every mature shoot.
Other top wildlife plants for October
Our October Wildlife Wonder plants are all about supporting bats and moths. With moth-friendly plants, you’re catering for the insects that keep bats fed.
- Evening primrose (Oenothera): bright flowers open in the evening, attracting night-flying moths
- Tobacco flowers, especially Nicotiana alata or N. sylvestris, release a lovely fragrance and are rich in nectar for moths. Put them near a path or sitting area to enjoy the scent to the full until the first frosts.
- Devil’s-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis) is an excellent all-round autumn flower, visited by bees, flies, butterflies, moths, wasps and beetles.
- Buddleja has been a nectar bar for a range of insects since summer now. Just deadhead spent flowerheads before seed is shed, as fertile forms of Buddleja davidii can spread beyond gardens.
So don't dismiss ivy as just background greenery. Let it flower, add a few evening blooms, and your garden can keep working long after you have gone indoors.
This is the RHS Bringing Nature Home campaign in action – using the plants already around us to support the food webs that make gardens come alive.
