Spring has arrived at Stockley Park

We have a mixture of British Native and Ornamental plants at Stockley Park, and with the gorgeous weather and onset of Spring, we have had a colour explosion of flowers. Please see below some pictures taken of our Flower Power by Landscape Manager Adam Tamplin.

Ornamental plants can significantly support the Biodiversity in our green spaces and work alongside our native species in providing early spring pollen sources invertebrates, vegetation cover, and evergreen winter protection.

The snippet below is from the Royal Horticultural Society’s Plants for Bugs Project:

“Near-native (northern hemisphere) – and exotic (southern hemisphere) plants also have a positive role to play in providing a habitat for invertebrates, offering good evergreen winter cover and supporting pollinators when in flower. Many gardens are already important habitats for invertebrates, but this research helps refine the advice given to gardeners wanting to maximise their garden’s potential and support declining invertebrates.”

Please visit www.rhs.org.uk for more information on Research Projects and ways for you to enjoy your green spaces responsibly during this difficult time. You might also like to get involved with some of their community projects when it is safe to do so.

Vinca minor – Lesser Periwinkle (left) And Vinca Major – Greater Periwinkle (right)

Vinca is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, native to Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia. The plants are low growing but grow quickly, so they are excellent refuges and ground cover for invertebrates and small mammals in UK Gardens.

Muscari neglectum – Grape Hyacinth

Muscari is a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia that produce spikes of dense, most commonly blue, urn-shaped flowers resembling bunches of grapes in the spring. Although considered edible, with a bitter, grape-like taste, we strongly urge people not to forage for natural food without the appropriate technical knowledge or training from an expert.

Puschkinia libanotica – part of the Genus Scillia – sometimes called Russian Snowdrops

Scilla is a perennial bulb with narrow basal leaves and erect stems bearing racemes of star-shaped, flat or bell-shaped flowers which are often blue. Some of our Stockley Squill, however, is a much more striking light blue with white internal parts and vertical blue lines – pollinators visually follow these lines which lead to the centre of the flower and in turn the pollen source.