If you would like to attract wildlife into your garden, teasel is a multi-tasker. It is a great host to butterflies, birds and bees.

The Painted Lady butterfly is a fan.

As are the goldfinches who love to eat the seed. This photo was taken from my kitchen window last January.

The leaves collect rainwater and act as a bird ‘water-cooler’. As well as providing drinking water for lots of bird species, the baby wrens in my garden are now using teasel as a luxury spa.

Bees love its pollen and when they get too wet for comfort they use it as an umbrella.

Teasel is a plant with many uses and well worth growing if you have a bit of space. It does self-seed and could become a pest in a smaller garden. The simple solution to prevent self-seeding is to cut the plant down to ground level when it has finished flowering.

But then the goldfinches will have to find the gardeners who prefer to buy birdseed to put in a bird feeder, rather than leave a little wild area for our native flora and fauna.

The choice is yours..

Sow teasel now to produce flowers and seeds for next year. It is a biennial and dies after flowering, but the seed heads will remain until March or April, feeding the goldfinches throughout the winter and also providing some height and structure in the garden.

Available by mail order at the Shop

Work is in progress on new website and online shop. Will keep you posted..