Stag beetles and hornets will be among the stars of Chelsea flower show next year as horticulturalists encourage people to welcome invertebrates into the garden.
Bumblebees and butterflies tend to get a lot of press, but in a 2023 garden sponsored by the Royal Entomological Society, less glamorous creepy-crawlies will take centre stage.
The garden may startle those used to more pristine spaces, as it will feature rotting wood and leaves as habitat for beetles and other insects, but it will still include a vast array of native and non-native flowering plants, which will be there to encourage pollinators.
It will highlight how pollination, food security and preventing vector-borne diseases are critical to our survival in a changing world and that insect conservation is often undervalued compared with mammal and bird conservation.
Tom Massey, who designed the garden, told the Guardian: “Bumblebees and butterflies get all the press but there are so many other insects that are really important or valuable or have amazing morphology and have amazing characteristics that we’re going to try and display at the show.”
There will be entomologists on site to study any insect visitors. “We’re hoping to do real entomology in the garden,” Massey said. “We’re going to be studying the insects that are coming. And then in the middle of the garden we will have this lab structure with microscopes linked to a screen that can show the insects enlarged to a huge scale.
“So the idea is that we can really educate people to excite them, show them the kind of insects that they can see on their garden and just show that it isn’t all about bees and butterflies because there are so many more which are very important and really interesting”.
This will include moth traps, which are humane way to catch and study the creatures.
Massey said: “Part of the roof structure and parts of the garden will have a moth trap built into it. So moths are a really undervalued insect species. There’s actually more species of moth than there is of butterfly in the UK. So we’re really hoping to get lots of moths.”
But there is one particular insect he really hopes is attracted to the display, which will be unveiled to the public in May.
“I really want to see a stag beetle,” he said. “Within the garden, there’s lots of different types of wood. So we’ve got a huge fallen tree that’s cut into rings to allow insects to crawl inside. There’ll be lots of panels full of different types of material. The beetles like to inhabit little holes inside material, it’s all about leaving the garden open for insects to find their habitat.”
Perhaps controversially, he would also welcome a hornet. “I actually really like hornets – I think they’re really interesting. I think some insects get victimised or demonised because we don’t really understand them or we’re scared of them. But, actually, when you look at them and how they interact with landscapes and what they do, wasps are pollinators, and bees get all the credit.”
The roof structure of the garden is inspired by a compound insect eye and will feature “modules” permeable to insects, providing an opportunity for on-site research, study and identification. During the week of the show, the lab will be used for real scientific research, monitoring and studying insects visiting the garden.
Clare Matterson, the director general of the RHS, said: “We know from our research that gardeners want to take care and do better for the environment: 72% are actively promoting biodiversity, putting up birdfeeders, thinking about how do we have a bug hotel in our garden. What we want to do over the coming years is really support that great number of gardeners to take action.”
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Don’t use pesticides. Massey says: “It’s about creating balance. Ladybirds eat aphids, for example, both are valuable in their own right, but it’s about being patient – if you get aphids causing a problem, don’t panic and spray them but know a ladybird will come soon and gobble them up. Create a garden that is attractive to all kinds of life.”
Embrace mess. “We don’t need to tidy everything up to the maximum degree … there has to be some kind of movement towards a looser, I suppose more patient style of gardening. Leave some leaves on the floor, don’t tidy everything up,” Massey says.
Welcome weeds. “Dandelions, for example, are a good source for insects and are actually a really attractive flower. Yes, they can sow seed everywhere but you can allow them to spread around and it creates less work for us and it’s very beneficial for wildlife at the same time.”
Accept and enjoy garden life. “Slugs and snails have been demonised but they are actually really important in breakdown of material and a food source for other types of animals that are more desirable, like frogs or toads. Be a bit more accepting of new sorts of life forms and maybe if you look at them closer, and you know more about them through things like science, they become more interesting and more fascinating and more appealing.”
