List contains most-asked-about flora and fauna for healthy gardens
How much do you know about beneficial garden wildlife? For the first time, the RHS has published a list of the most-asked-about plants and animals – and there are some surprises. The list comes from questions to the RHS Gardening Advice Service. It’s to celebrate the wildlife found in our gardens and how encouraging more species can bring many benefits.
Topping the list are lichens. They provide food for other animals, create new homes for invertebrates and nesting materials for birds and mammals. Associated with good air quality, lichens photosynthesise to capture carbon. Some lichens also absorb atmospheric nitrogen. They soak up water during wet weather, slowly releasing it as water vapour afterwards.
Beneficial garden wildlife – Top-ranking insects
The top insects, pollinators and ladybirds, are no surprise. Since 2012, the RHS has produced the Plants for Pollinators list, plants which are beneficial to pollinators, including bees. Ladybirds mostly eat aphids. A single creature can eat 50 aphids a day, or around 5,000 in a lifetime.
The rose chafer beetle (Cetonia aurata), a bright metallic green, appears in May. The larvae feed on dead matter, helping to compost material. Social wasps feed on everything from caterpillars to greenflies. Adult hoverflies mimic wasps, having no sting and they are vital pollinators. The larvae of many species eat blackflies and other aphids.
Fungi make an appearance
Beneficial fungi appear too. Sulphur tuft and inkcap mushrooms are often confused with honey fungus. All appear in groups in the autumn, but these species help recycle dead wood and support plant health. They release micronutrients and humic acid to enrich soils and retain water. Fungus in soil improves the soil’s structure. Add woody mulch or healthy pruning cuttings to soil.
Single-celled slime moulds fuse together to move as one in search of food. They eat bacteria which decompose plant material, contributing to the nutrient cycling in a garden. They in turn are eaten by invertebrates such as nematodes.
The top 10 beneficial garden wildlife for 2022
1. Lichens
2. Native ladybirds
3. How to encourage pollinators
4. Solitary bees (Aculeate hymenoptera)
5. Sulphur tuft fungi (Hypholoma fasciculare)
6. Slime moulds
= Rose chafer beetle (Cetonia aurata)
8. Inkcap mushrooms (Coprinoids)
= Hoverflies
= Social wasps.
Increase in interest
RHS Plant Pathologist Liz Beal said: “We have seen a huge increase in gardeners wanting to find out more about the organisms they can encourage into their garden to naturally ward off the species that can be more damaging to their plants. Many of the gardeners that get in touch are also very curious about the wildlife they find and what they do, rather than looking for ways to get rid of them. A healthy garden ecosystem is home to a wide variety of wildlife. We hope this list will help celebrate some of the beneficial garden wildlife that has a whole host of benefits for our plots and the wider environment.”
The RHS is committed to becoming biodiversity positive by 2025. To help, the charity encourages gardeners to focus on the benefits of having a biodiverse garden. A healthy ecosystem and increased biodiversity prevent any one species from becoming too prevalent and harming plants.
For more information, visit www.rhs.org.uk/wildlife. RHS members get free access to the charity’s one-to-one Gardening Advice Service, available by phone or email.
