Wildlife gardening comes to RHS London Flower Show

As wildflower meadows and ancient woodlands disappear at an alarming rate, gardens are quickly becoming important havens for a wide range of birds, mammals, amphibians and invertebrates. The RHS London Flower Show will provide visitors with design and planting ideas to help visitors create their own wildlife garden without turning it into a wild' garden.

Maya Albert, RHS Horticultural Advisor, says "As the days get warmer this is the perfect time of year to start attracting butterflies, bumblebees and birds to your garden."

Maya gives the following tips for those gardeners keen to go wild' in their garden: To maximise the numbers of different bird species that you attract to your garden, it is a good idea to cater to their different feeding habits. Hanging bird feeders attract species such as tits, finches and sparrows. Bird tables attract robins, house and tree sparrows and chaffinches. Food scattered on the ground attracts thrushes, dunnocks, wrens and redwings.

Bats come out of hibernation and start their own nesting season in April. Why not put up a bat box on a sunny wall? Many bat species are garden-friendly, eating the midges and tiny insects that cause annoyance on summer evenings.

As a very general rule, single flowers attract more insects than double blooms. Bear in mind that insects can be attracted to a particular plant for its nectar, its pollen, the shelter it provides (many ornamental grasses and other species) or its suitability for breeding (many native trees, shrubs, climbers, or weeds, such as the common nettle). A variety of insect-friendly planting fulfilling all these needs is likely to attract many more insects than is a mass planting of a single species fulfilling only one.

Put out log and twig piles made from old prunings and felled trees. These provide valuable shelter for wildlife, and can be made into attractive features by planting up with ferns, primroses, or other suitable plants. A site well away from the house should ensure that unwanted creepy crawlies do not stray into domestic rooms.

Corrugated iron or plastic laid on the soil in a sunny position can provide tunnel' hiding places for small reptiles and mammals looking for shelter and warmth. Covering with mulch or planting will camouflage this area within the garden.

Maya and the RHS advisory team will be at the show to answer visitors' queries on how best to create a wildlife haven and for one-to-one advice on all gardening matters - a service that is available to RHS members throughout the year.

It's not just the RHS London Flower Show that is going wild this spring; creature features will be the key to success for the thousands of communities taking part in this year's RHS Britain in Bloom. This year's has a Bloomin' Wild' theme to encourage communities to design and plant for wildlife. RHS Britain in Bloom wants children everywhere to help champion wildlife gardening in their communities and they have produced a Creature Calendar that lists creatures to look out for, from the Buff-tipped Bumblebees to the Marmalade Hoverfly.

For practical advice on gardening for wildlife including choosing the right plants, creating the right soil conditions and much more why not visit the Wild About Gardens website at www.wildaboutgardens.org Wild About Gardens is a major project between the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and The Wildlife Trusts that aims to bring the worlds of gardening and nature conservation closer together, to increase understanding of the significance of local wildlife character, celebrate what garden owners are already doing to support wildlife, and build on existing research into the wildlife potential of domestic gardens