The native Solomon’s Seal grows in shady conditions beneath trees and its flowers are loved by bumblebees that don’t mind hanging upside down to get at the nectar. Hazel trees overhead form a coppice which shades the native underplanting of wild flowers, working well for a broad range of wildlife from insects to birds. The Dog’s Mercury groundcover, a signifier of ancient woodland, has spread underground after an unpromising start last year and this spring has popped up all over the ground beneath the hazel coppice. I am appreciating Kim Wilkie’s brilliant landscape planting design more and more for its delightful concentration on shades of green and foliage texture on the larger scale and delicate detail and support for biodiversity at the smaller scale.
Bumblebee collecting nectar from the bell-shaped flowers of Solomon’s Seal
The Dog’s Mercury groundcover has spread underground