The best plants for bees and birds in your garden

Popular with both bees and butterflies, you might also find marjoram labelled as Oregano. Origanum laevigatum 'Majoram' grows to around 30 cm tall and forms a clump over time. In spring, the RSPB recommends making sure to cut back all the stems that flowered the previous year.

Customer Review: "It's an attractive, bushy medium-height herb if you want to add it to a collection."

"Butterflies adore the lilac flowers that adorn the slender, wiry stems of verbena bonariensis", says the RSPB. Leave the flower heads once finished as finches love to eat the seeds. How lovely will it be to see some birds in the garden? Plus, any that fall to the ground may germinate, giving you new plants. In early spring, make sure to prune back to the base.

Customer Review: "They arrived as just three tiny plants and they took a while to get going, but now they are about as tall as me and filling a massive space in partial sun in my north-facing garden and have been flowering consistently for a couple of months. Easy to care for as well. Highly recommend."

"With mounds of lovely leaves that grow to around 30-45 cm and hundreds of large flowers in blues, purples and pinks, hardy geraniums are perfect for attracting bumblebees," says the RSPB. We've chosen Geranium sanguineum. If you cut them back hard straight after flowering, your geraniums will happily grow back - and likely flower again.

Customer Review: "I bought this alongside 5 or 6 other plants as part of a planting scheme for my front garden. All plants have flourished and this geranium has vivid pink coloured flowers which are still flowering now (Jan). I highly recommend Crocus for their plant quality and fantastic customer service."

Nepeta x faassenii 'Junior Walker' - also known as Catmint - is best "kept away from feline friends who like to eat it before it has time to flower", says the RSPB. Two common varieties are Walker’s Low and Six Hills Giant. However, this variation is a more compact, easier-to-contain variety. But, it's still stuffed with nectar and grows to around 45 cm tall and forms a low, loose mound of foliage. The RSPB recommends letting your catmint "flower in summer and then cut back to the base around July as it starts to become straggly" as it will then sprout again from the base.

Customer Review: "This is a lovely catmint. I only bought one plant but it is now about 18" across and is covered in flowers. It's a very neat plant and not as tall as some catmints - highly recommended!"

A favourite of bees, says the RSPB, lavender grows to a wide clump of about 60 cm tall. "They thrive in dry soil - just be cautious not to overwater them because they don’t like having what is called ‘their feet in water’". With your new Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote', trim the ends of all of the stems to keep your lavender healthy in spring.

Customer Review: "Use this to line our border around the patio. Hardy, jeeps it shape well and always puts on a fabulous display with a good scent. And the bees love it!"

Helenium has gorgeous daisy-like flowers that grow to around 60 cm high in flaming reds and sunny yellows. We've picked Helenium 'Moerheim Beauty', but all varieties will have the bees buzzing. In terms of care, the RSPB suggests: "cut back last year’s flowering stems in early spring and make sure to water well in hot, dry weather".

Lastly, we have picked Foxglove Digitalis 'Mixed', which has tall flower spikes with pretty purple, pink and white flowers. According to the RPSB, many are ‘biennials’ which means they "germinate in year one, form a rosette of leaves and then flower and die in year two. Don’t be alarmed though - you can scatter the thousands of tiny seeds that are left".

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