10 top wildlife plants at RHS Chelsea 2026

Biodiversity

The variety of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms) in a particular environment. Boosting the biodiversity of your garden has many benefits, including supporting wildlife, improving soil health and reducing the likelihood of pest and disease problems.

is in crisis, but gardeners have huge power to help – even just by growing a few choice plants. Engaging with the wonderful wildlife on our doorstep often benefits our own wellbeing, too.

Look out for these 10 top wildlife plants at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, each benefitting a different group of animals to help make your outdoor space a haven for biodiversity.

1. Bumblebees – Cirsium rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’ (plume thistle)

This is a classic RHS Chelsea plant that makes an appearance at the show every year. It’s as if the bumblebees know it’s coming, because they almost immediately flock to the crimson thistle-like blooms. Holding an RHS Recommended Award of Garden Merit and thankfully completely lacking in prickles, this handsome hardy perennial

Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.

is easy to grow and perfect for reasonably moist beds and borders in sun or part shade. Its seen here with Zizia aurea, one of our 2026 star plants from RHS Chelsea.

• Find it: The Children’s Society GardenandThe Asthma and Lung UK Breathing Space Garden
• Buy it here

2. Butterflies – Hesperis matronalis (sweet rocket)

This biennial

Biennials are plants that complete their life cycle over the course of two years. In the first year, biennials typically produce leaves and roots but no flowers. In the second year, they flower and produce seeds before dying. Some common biennials include foxgloves Digitalis, honesty Lunaria annua and viper's bugloss Echium vulgare.

has a similar look to honesty, but flowers for longer, especially with regular deadheading

Deadheading is the process of removing spent flowers from plants to encourage more blooms and prevent seed production. This helps to redirect the plant's energy into producing more flowers rather than producing seeds.

. It also has a lovely evening scent. Boasting a voluminous cloud of violet or white flowerheads, it’s great for filling gaps in borders for late spring and early summer colour. Not only is it a wonderful nectar

Sweet liquid mainly produced by flowers to attract pollinators. Honeybees make honey from nectar.

source for a variety of butterflies, it’s also a main caterpillar food plant for the orange-tip butterfly. A true butterfly two-in-one!

• Find it:The Bat Conservation Trust’s Nocturnal Garden
• Buy it here

3. Moths – Digitalis purpurea (foxglove)

They’re the pollinators that take the night shift – and we have 2500 UK species of moth, compared to only 59 butterflies. While adult moths feed on nectar, the caterpillars eat leaves and need different plants. So to help moths, it’s important to include these caterpillar food plants. An ideal biennial for shade, foxgloves fill this role for several species, including the lesser yellow underwing and angle shades moth.

• Find it:Parkinson’s UK – A Garden for Every Parkinson’s Journey
• Buy them here

4. Hoverflies – Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’ (purple-leafed cowparsley)

Providing pollination

The transfer of pollen grains from a male anther to a female stigma, either within the same flower or between two different flowers. It’s usually followed by fertilisation and seed production. Some flowers are pollinated by insects or other small creatures, others are wind pollinated. It’s also possible to pollinate flowers by hand, if you want to breed new plants or ensure successful pollination when there are few natural pollinators.

, recycling services and aphid predation, hoverflies are a true gardener’s friend. These often-overlooked pollinators mostly have short tongues, so need open, flat-topped flowerheads that they can easily access for pollen and nectar, such as fennel, achillea and cow parsley. ‘Ravenswing’ is a dramatic take on wild cow parsley, with deep purple foliage offsetting pale, lacy blooms.

• Find it:The Boodles Garden
• Buy it here

5. Ladybirds – nasturtiums

Eating aphids, scale insects and mildews, native

A native plant is one that originated or arrived naturally in a particular place without human involvement. In the British Isles, native plants are those that were here during the last ice age or have arrived unaided since.

ladybirds are another key garden helper. Often grown near veg but great for pots too, nasturtiums are easy annuals

Annuals are plants that complete their life cycle in one growing season. They are generally easy to grow from seed or can be bought as young plants from garden centres. Annuals are ideal for growing in summer containers and filling gaps in borders. Some examples of annuals include sunflowers, cosmos, sweet peas and zinnia.

that draw aphids away from other plants to be hoovered up by ladybirds, which also feed on the pollen and nectar and lay their eggs among the leaves. Ensure ladybirds have somewhere to overwinter by delaying cutting back perennials until March.

• Find it:The RHS and The King’s Foundation Curious Garden
• Buy them here

6. Bats – Lonicera periclymenum (common honeysuckle)

Bats are vital to UK ecosystems and help keep midges in check in your garden. They feast on insects at night, so whip

A young tree that is just a slender stem and hasn’t yet produced side branches. Fruit trees and hedging may be available as whips, around 50cm tall. They are cheaper and easier to transport than larger, more mature plants and should root in to the surrounding soil and settle in quickly.

up a bat banquet with plants that attract nocturnal insects such as moths. Moths are drawn to pale, night-scented flowers such as our native honeysuckle and its cultivars, which make wonderfully fragrant climbers for a large wall, pergola or trellis and thrive in shade. Birds love the berries too.

• Find it:The Bat Conservation Trust’s Nocturnal Garden
• Buy it here

7. Hedgehogs – mixed native hedge

The clue’s in the name! Dense hedges with cover at the base provide ideal habitat for hedgehogs, connecting gardens and garden areas with safe routes. Many native hedge species, such as hawthorn, hazel, privet, elder and alder buckthorn, are caterpillar food plants, so help to lay on a hedgehog larder too. Leave leaf litter under the hedge, or even sweep leaves underneath, to provide a winter duvet.

• Find it:The Killik & Co ‘A Seed in Time’ Garden and Trussell’s Together Garden
• Buy it here

8. Amphibians – Myosotis scorpioides (water forget-me-not)

A pond is perhaps the best wildlife feature you can add to your garden. Native pond and wetland plants provide shelter, invertebrate

Invertebrates are animals that don't have a backbone. Common garden invertebrates, or minibeasts, include insects, spiders, worms, slugs, snails, woodlice and centipedes. They play important roles in a garden ecosystem, including breaking down organic matter, pollinating flowers and providing food for other animals.

prey and egg-laying sites for frogs, toads and newts, especially marginal plants that create underwater architecture in the shallows. Water-forget-me-not provides cover for tadpoles while newts lay eggs on the leaves. Ensure there’s damp cover around the pond, such as long grass.

• Find it:Woodland Trust: Forgotten Forests Garden
• Buy it here

9. Berry-eating birds – Viburnum opulus (guelder rose)

The bright red autumn berries of this easy and reliable UK native shrub provide the perfect winter larder for a wide range of birds, including blackbirds, fieldfares, redwings, mistle thrushes, jays, bramblings, blackcaps, waxwings and more. The flat heads of creamy flowers in late spring/early summer are perfect for hoverflies. Guelder rose thrives in a damp spot in a woodland area, shrubbery or mixed hedge.

• Find it:Woodland Trust: Forgotten Forests Garden

10. Seed-eating birds – Cynara cardunculus (cardoon)

A resilient perennial with jagged silver-green leaves and flower stems 2m tall, cardoon is a truly architectural plant. The giant thistle-like blooms are a magnet for pollinators, while later in the year, seedheads provide a feast for birds such as finches.

Leave the stems standing for winter structure and habitat, and birds may even use the thistle down to line their nests in spring.

• Find it:Lady Garden Foundation ‘Silent No More’ Garden
• Buy it here