Seeds to bring the butterflies

Sow now to help our struggling pollinators

- Ruth Hayes

ONE of the delights of summer is listening to the bees as they potter from flower to flower and watching the butterflies dance around the garden.

Give them a reason to pay you a visit with this week's free seeds, a special mix of plants designed to feed and nurture our butterflies.

The mix may vary from packet to packet but it will include corn cockle, poppies, calendulas, cornflowers and other native plants.

Sow them somewhere sunny and sheltered, as this makes it easier for butterflies and other insects to land on them and feed.

These hardy and half hardy annuals can now be sown directly onto soil that has been broken up, raked and dampened. Scatter seeds thinly in swathes and arcs for a natural look, then cover them with a thin layer of soil, gently firm it down and label the site.