Urgent warning to gardeners with one common plant in their garden
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If you're looking to make your garden and help the local wildlife thrive, now is the time to take stock of the plants you have – and make sure you're offering food and shelter for our feathered friends. One common garden plant that’s often overlooked is ivy, but it’s more important than you might think when it comes to supporting wildlife, especially during the colder months. As the weather turns chillier, gardens can become sparse, and the food supply for birds can be limited.
That's why planting evergreen shrubs with long-lasting fruit could be a fantastic way to help your local birdlife while also adding a burst of colour and structure to your garden. Think of crab apples with their warm tones, or Pyracantha, which is perfect for training along fences or framing windows with a bit of formal elegance.
But while these plants can be a great way to help birds, there’s one plant that might be doing more for your garden than you realise – ivy. While it’s often thought of as a nuisance or something to prune back, ivy actually provides valuable food and shelter for wildlife. Here’s where the warning comes in: if you’re planning to do some tidying up this winter, don’t remove all your ivy.
While it’s okay to trim a little ivy for wreath-making or other festive decorations, make sure you leave enough of it for the birds to feed on. The berries produced by ivy are a crucial winter food source, particularly for birds like blackbirds, thrushes, and wood pigeons. If you remove all the ivy in your garden, you're depriving these creatures of a vital resource they rely on during the colder months when food is scarcer.
