The BBC announced yesterday that rare butterflies are making a come back. Record-breaking temperatures and dry weather in spring last year led to an increase in the numbers of many species of rare butterfly, which is just fantastic news.

There are many plants apart from the infamous Buddleja which are attractive to butterflies, many herbs are magnets for bees and butterflies and Sedums (left) are just great.

I believe that what is in your garden can make a real difference to wildlife. Growing a mix of flowers which produce nectar all the season provides essential food, from Hellebores to Sedums. For ideas on lovely plants that the bees love too visit the wildlife friendly garden

The garden centres at this time of year are featuring Wisteria plants for sale  and they too are attractive to bees.  This  is a good time in the gardening year to buy Wisteria. A common complaint in relation to growing Wisteria is the problems getting them to flower.It follows that a good starting point is to buy a plant at this time of year which has plenty of flower buds on it and so you start with a plant that you know will flower and the art is to persuade it to flower in following years. For more tips on how to make a Wisteria flower click on the link

Many garden plants, especially the herbaceous perennials need staking and its a job I often leave  until it's almost too late; now is a good time to look plants and consider staking.

Looking at photo one, this Peony is ready to for the support to be put in place, before it grows on too much, photo two shows a Peony which has grown almost, but not quite, too far. As photo three shows it was just possible to squeeze plant and foliage through the support without damaging the buds, but it was a delicate exercise which could easily have damaged the flower buds.

Some plants especially the taller ones, particularly those whose flower heads can become heavy with rain such as  Delphiniums and Hollyhocks, will need staking to keep them upright. Others such as Peonies, Hemerocallis,  Nepeta to prevent them flopping over. It can be tempting, when looking at Hemerocallis, with good strong new growth to think it will be alright on its own; but as summer wears  on the weight of the flowers and the leaves, will push the plant down which will suffocate anything around it and flatten it out.  Peony and Dahlias are best staked to support  the flower heads as  the size and weigh of the flowers can seem too much for the stems without some support.  The stakes can look intrusive when first placed, as in the Peony photograph, but the plant will soon grow over them.

For Delphiniums and tall plants I think the spiral supports are best, and placed just as the flower stalk appear so as to tease it to grow through the circles which will keep it well supported.  Delphiniums, glorious plants  but they do suffer badly when it rains  s the flower heads become very heavy which can cause the stems to snap.

Hemerocallis are best supported with a large semi circle stake to lift the foliage and hold it more upright.

For other plants rings and linked stakes will support well, and I also save and use woody cuttings to try and make the staking as natural as possible.

How you tie into the stake is important as the plant needs to flex with the wind and not be cut by the tie. I think raffia makes really good soft, but strong ties, looks attractive and degrades down if necessary. Tie loosely with a figure of 8 knot so that the support and plant can move.With some other perennials, such as Nepeta, Sedums, phlox you can use the "Chelsea Chop" which has the effect of reducing the size of the plant, making it bush and flower a bit later but as the plant is sturdier it is less likely to flop and need staking. For more about the Chelsea Chop follow the link

This year's challenge is drought resistant gardening which is sure to become more difficult as the summer progress. We don't know what sort of summer we will be having this year, but it's unlikely to have enough rainfall and so we will need to plan ahead. The veg plot will present some serious challenges as all veg need water to grow and produce good crops. One way to make the best use of the water rescourse is to ensure water gets to the roots which is where the plant most needs it. If you are planting the veg plot during April and May use shredded paper as a mulch in bean and pea trenches; use old water bottles with the bottoms cut off to sink into the ground so that when watering the water can be funnelled down to the roots. 

Frogs are now spawning in ponds and the evidence of tadpoles can be seen floating on the surfaces of ponds.  The arrival of the spawning season could be detected a little while ago as the male frogs seek to attract their mates by a low gentle croak. Frogs return to the same pond or water source to spawn each year so once you have managed to attract them into your garden they will faithfully keep on coming year after year. Frogs can live for up to 8 years.

Spawning looks like a water wresting match resulting in between 1000-4000 eggs fertilised but vast amounts  get eaten by predators so only a few per thousand survive, develop into tadpoles and then metamorphosis into frogs . The truly endearing thing about frogs is that their diet includes slugs. When mature and living in the garden, frogs are a real gardener's friend and will eat slugs and snails helping to reduce the slug populations. More frogs means less slugs. Frogs will be attracted by the conditions to breed in which is shallow water and over the winter they hibernate in compost heaps, logs and leaf piles.

Frogs do not live in ponds, they only spawn in them but live in the garden and like shady undergrowth in which they can conceal themselves, and leap out when disturbed to hop off to another hiding place. For ideas on plants which attracted bees and butterflies follow this link.