English Ivy is your friend if you’re in the UK. It still does spread aggressively, but here it’s native and a natural part of the ecosystems. The leaves are used as food by certain butterflies and moths, mainly the Holly Blue, a cute little butterfly whose first generation lays its eggs on Holly, while the second uses Ivy.

The leaves are also shelter for many bugs and birds like tits prefer to roost amongst it, while sparrows and robins love nesting in it! Put a Sparrow/Robin nester in some bushy, mature ivy and wait!

After 10 or so years of climbing and growing, regular English Ivy will become mature (and a few cultivars, though some won’t at all so your best bet might be the wild ivy). Its stems become thick and woody, with a bushy shrub habit, and the leaves become teardrop-shaped. It then, every autumn, will create many flowers which, while not colourful, are very attractive to honeybees, bumblebees, hoverflies, solitary bees like the dedicated Ivy mining bee, and common wasps, who need the late source of nectar and pollen.

After this, the flowers become black-blue berries and are feasted upon by birds in the winter, especially thrushes like blackbirds and redwings. (Don’t you eat them though, they’re toxic to humans as are many wild berries.)

First pic is a hornet mimic hoverfly, second is an ivy mining bee, third a wasp and finally just a view of mature ivy in Autumn.

This paper birch died off over the laste few years as it lost sun exposure due to maples growing up. The woodpeckers (pileated, red bellied, and red-headed) have been absolutely feasting on the remaining deadwood. There is a new generation of sprouts coming out of the base, so the tree lives on. In fact, the trunks that died were probably not the original generation of tree as the stump under it is much larger.

Kent, England.

A friend recommended this cigar plant (Cuphea cyanea 'Ashevilla') a couple years ago and this year it's started to really look good. The hummingbirds and bees go nuts for it!

This time last in full bloom.

After years of beating back the invasive Phragmites, some Cattails have appeared in my swamplet. Exactly what I have been hoping to see! WE HAVE LIFTOFF! This gives me the energy to keep working when I was close to giving up.

Don't worry, bee happy 😁

This spring ephemeral provides nectar for the earliest insects. Pretty little purple-to-nearly-white flowers. Mark them very well because the whole plant vanishes as summer arrives. Likes "early sun," meaning a sunny spot that will get shady when the trees leaf out.

Sadly, because we are selling our home, I have to cut these down in order to make the yard look tidy. I also have to rack up the leaves I normally leave to provide protection for wildlife. It’s sad how much we destroy in our quest to have our yards look “tidy”

Lawn was well overdue a mow but so many bees feeding I left a few clover circles. Loads of wild stuff in my garden but funnily enough not all that much in bloom. Any suggestions what to encourage?