Spring blossom for wildlife

Plant fruiting trees and shrubs now, so your garden will be filled with beautiful snowy blossom that will provide valuable nectar for insects come spring, says Hazel Sillver

- Hazel Sillver

WHEN spring casts out winter, the new season spreads across the countryside in a tide of blossom. The white flowers of blackthorn and hawthorn cling to the bare branches like fleece, turning the hedgerows to banks of snow, and on city streets, the cherry trees stand proud like brides in wedding gowns. The blossom provides vital early nectar for insects, and the air hums with the sound of bees.

In gardens, this voluptuous wildlife feast can be enjoyed by growing ornamental or edible fruit shrubs and trees, which can be planted now.

Single flowers for pollinators

Select ornamental cherries with a single or semi-double blossom that allows pollinators to access nectar. The great white cherry (Prunus ‘Tai-haku’) is an impressive spreading tree with beautiful, large, single white blossom. P. ‘Snow Goose’ (a narrow white tree) and P. ‘Okamé’ (a rounded pink tree) are two other good choices with single flowers, as well as fiery autumn colour.

Where space is tight, the pinkflowered shrubby almond, P. triloba, doesn’t take up much room and could be grown in a pot, and the single apricot-coloured flowers of the quince Chaenomeles speciosa ‘Geisha Girl’ can be grown against a wall.