Gardeners’ World icon Alan Titchmarsh says gardens have ‘all the time been essential havens’ for British wildlife as he urges gardeners to ‘encourage’ animals
Alan Titchmarsh has named a shrub that birds ‘love’ (Picture: Getty)
Alan Titchmarsh has revealed one in every of his favorite flowers that birds will “love”. The gardening knowledgeable insists that gardens have “all the time been essential havens” for British wildlife. The previous Gardeners’ World host considers it “actually essential” to “encourage” birds and animals to go to your backyard, whether or not to feed or to nest when applicable.
This led Alan to establish one flower he regards as glorious for birds all through many of the yr. On his Gardening with Alan Titchmarsh YouTube channel, the tv persona championed the cotoneaster horizontalis, also called the wall cotoneaster, as one of many best flowers for wildlife. He explains the plant is often known as a “fishbone cotoneaster” as a result of it resembles the “good kipper”.
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Learn extra: Butterflies will flock to your backyard should you plant one flower in Could
The Cotoneaster horizontalis flowers with pink berries (Picture: Getty Pictures)
In a video, he stated: “This little variegated selection is de facto candy. The factor about it’s it types a little bit of a thicket. It’s going to kind of amble its approach up a wall as if it is acquired its again to it and it is making an attempt to stand up there.
“However the different factor about it’s that in autumn, it carries tons and plenty of shiny pink small bite-sized berries. Birds adore it.”
“It is a actually good winter meals plant for birds. And being actually fairly thick, it will also be a great nesting place. It loses its leaves in winter. And then you definately actually do see that the branches are studded with tiny little rubies, the pink berries that you simply love and so will the birds.”
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) describes the cotoneaster horizontalis as a “low-growing, spreading, deciduous” shrub. It could develop as much as round 90cm tall and sometimes spans round 1.5m in width.
The cotoneaster horizontalis is widespread with birds (Picture: undefined)
Its distinctive, flat, herringbone-patterned branches are adorned with small, darkish inexperienced leaves that often flip vivid shades of orange and pink through the winter months.
The plant is effectively regarded for its pink and white flowers that emerge in spring, adopted by the intense pink berries that Alan notes birds will get pleasure from feasting upon.
The shrub thrives greatest in a well-drained setting however may be planted in chalk, clay, loam, or sandy soil. The society advises that the cotoneaster horizontalis performs greatest in full solar, but can flourish in a backyard going through any route.
It notes that the berries produced by the plant are purely decorative and shouldn’t be consumed by both folks or pets. The RHS cautions that the plant could also be susceptible to pests, together with scale bugs, Cotoneaster webber caterpillars, aphids, and woolly aphids.
Alongside the cotoneaster horizontalis, Alan recommends the malus sargentii, or crab apple “Tina”, as a wonderful selection for these wishing to draw birds to their backyard. This compact tree reaches solely round 125 to 150cm after a decade.
Alan describes the tree as producing a wide ranging white and pink blossom, including: “The opposite bonus in fact is following on from this spring blossom comes the autumn fruit. You should use them for crab apple jelly or you may depart them for the birds and so they’ll adore them.”
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