The basis of life – it’s estimated that one third of the food we consume daily relies on pollination by mainly bees and birds, plus a few other insects. Birds and bees keep the eco system alive and well.

Birds are indeed the gardens feather-friends, they pollinate plants, disperse seeds, eat unwanted insects, snails, slugs, weeds and rodents!  Bird song and movement in the garden add as much interest as plants.  

Bees, provide sweet honey, pollinate beans, tomatoes, onions, carrots and many hundreds of other vegetable plants, and they pollinate the clover that the livestock thrive on.  

Bees are at risk from pesticides, loss of their habitat and their increasing predators – as gardens we can help them by encouraging them in our gardens.  

Invite birds and bees into your garden with plants full of pollen and nectar. 

Put out a bird feeder, ensure it's well out of reach of predators and kept clean; leave out fruit and foliage (not bread or grains - cooked or raw), and a dish with clean water.  

Introduce a Bird Bath  - in time the the birds will love for it!.

Plant suggestions -  

Annual flowers: Calendula, Marigold, Sunflowers, Poppies, Cosmos, Hollyhocks, Fox Gloves, Echium, Clover, Nasturtiums

Herbs: Mint, Basil, Sage, Thyme, Chives

Edibles: Fruit Trees, Berry fruit, Most Vegetables

    

Perennials: Hemerocallis, Delphinium, Dahlias, Echinacea, Geraniums 

Shrubs: Lavender, Lilac, Buddleia, Echium.

Climbers: Lonicera, Clematis

Trees: Prunus (flowering cherry), Tilia, camellia

Natives: Kowhai, Pohutukawa, Leptospernum (Tee Tree), Phormium