This pollinator-focused design choice reshapes planting strategies

You notice it in spring first: the air feels busy. Pollinator habitats in wildlife-friendly gardens aren’t just a nice extra; they’re the part that decides whether your planting actually works as a living system, rather than a set of pretty pots. And the design choice that keeps reshaping everything is surprisingly simple: stop thinking in single plants, and start planting in repeating “drifts” built around nectar, pollen, and shelter.

Most people don’t fail because they don’t care. They fail because they plant like a catalogue-one of this, one of that-and then wonder why the border goes quiet after two weeks of blossom.

The design choice that changes the whole garden: plant in nectar ‘blocks’, not singles

There’s a moment every gardener knows. You’ve got one lavender, one salvia, one echinacea, all spaced politely apart, all labelled, all “good for bees”. Then July arrives and the patch still feels oddly empty. You see the occasional bumblebee, but nothing like that humming, urgent abundance you hoped for.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: pollinators don’t forage like we shop. They’re trying to move efficiently, spending as little energy as possible for as much reward as possible. A lone plant is a snack. A block is a meal.

Think of it as signage. A drift of the same flower is easier to spot, easier to land on repeatedly, and easier to work through without wasting flight time. That one shift-repetition over variety-quietly pulls you away from “what looks nice” and towards “what feeds life”.

Why repetition beats novelty (and why your border suddenly looks better)

If you’ve ever watched a bee work a patch, you’ll see the pattern. It doesn’t bounce randomly across your whole garden. It commits. It learns one flower shape, one landing pad, one method, and then it rinses that patch until it’s no longer worth the effort.

When you plant in blocks, you’re giving pollinators a reliable route. You also make your planting look calmer and more intentional, which is the funny bonus of gardening for insects: it often improves the aesthetics for humans too.

A practical way to hold it in your head:

• Single specimen planting is for collectors and plant labels.
• Block planting is for ecosystems-and for borders that read well from the kitchen window.

How to build a pollinator block without redesigning your entire garden

You don’t need a wild meadow or a half-acre. You need a few repeatable moves that you can apply to a bed, a strip by the drive, or even a run of pots.

Start with three rules that keep things realistic:

1. Choose 3–5 “core” plants that thrive in your conditions (sun/shade, dry/wet, exposed/sheltered).
2. Repeat each core plant in groups of 3, 5, or 7 rather than buying one of everything.
3. Stitch the gaps with long-season fillers that keep something flowering when the main stars pause.

If that sounds too tidy, remember: you’re not trying to control nature. You’re trying to stop creating accidental famine weeks.

A simple template that works in most UK gardens

Pick one block for each layer:

• Front edge (low, accessible): thyme, marjoram/oregano, dwarf scabious, alpine strawberries (flowers matter).
• Middle (the engine room): salvias, nepeta, verbena bonariensis (yes, it counts), achillea, hyssop.
• Back (structure and shelter): buddleja (responsibly placed), hebes, hawthorn or blackthorn in larger gardens, or a mixed native hedge.

Then repeat. Not endlessly, just enough that a pollinator can move one metre and still find the same food source.

The quiet part people miss: your “hungry gap” is a design problem

Gardens often have two peaks: spring blossom and high summer colour. Between them sits the hungry gap-those weeks when a garden looks green and healthy but offers very little nectar or pollen.

It’s rarely obvious because we still see leaves. Pollinators see a motorway with no services.

A useful check is to walk your garden once a month and ask one blunt question: What is in flower right now, in more than one place? If the answer is “not much”, you don’t need more plants. You need better sequencing.

Good gap-bridgers in the UK (depending on site):

• Early: crocus, lungwort (pulmonaria), willow catkins, rosemary.
• Mid-season: alliums, geraniums (hardy cranesbills), foxgloves, catmint.
• Late: ivy (massively important), sedum (hylotelephium), asters, late salvias.

Planting in blocks makes this easier, because you can “patch” a missing month by repeating one strong performer instead of hunting for something exotic.

Shelter is part of the block: don’t feed them and leave them exposed

A common mistake in wildlife-friendly gardens is to focus on flowers and forget the rest. Pollinator habitats aren’t only nectar stations; they’re places to rest, warm up, hide from wind, and nest.

If your garden is breezy, open, or heavily paved, the insects burn energy just staying stable. A block of flowers beside a windbreak will outperform the same flowers in the middle of an exposed lawn.

Small, high-impact shelter moves:

• Leave a strip of long grass or seed heads somewhere out of the way until spring.
• Add a log pile in light shade; it’s habitat, not mess.
• Plant one dense shrub near your main flower blocks to create a calmer microclimate.
• Avoid constant “tidying” in autumn; hollow stems and leaf litter are housing.

The point isn’t to let everything run wild. It’s to design one or two safe, slightly scruffy corners so the rest of the garden can be as neat as you like.

A small habit that changes your planting decisions all year

Next time you’re tempted by a single “bee-friendly” plant in a 9cm pot, pause and buy three. Or five. Put them together. Watch what happens.

You’ll start noticing patterns: which plants stay busy even on grey days, which ones flower during the awkward weeks, which ones are popular but short-lived. That attention-quiet, repeated, not dramatic-is what turns a garden from decorative to genuinely alive.

Point clé	Ce que vous faites	Pourquoi ça marche
Planting in blocks	Repeat the same plant in drifts of 3–7	Easier for pollinators to find and forage efficiently
Fill the hungry gap	Ensure something flowers each month	Prevents “silent” weeks with little food
Pair food with shelter	Shrubs, stems, leaf litter, log piles	Supports resting and nesting, not just feeding

FAQ:

• Can I still have variety if I plant in blocks? Yes. Variety comes from having several blocks across the garden, not from scattering single plants everywhere.
• How big does a “block” need to be? Small is fine: three of the same plant together is already more useful than three different singles spaced apart.
• Do blocks only work in large borders? No. The same principle works in pots-cluster identical pots, or plant multiple of the same species in one large container.
• What if I only have shade? Build shade blocks: lungwort, foxgloves, ivy, hardy geraniums, and shade-tolerant shrubs for shelter. The repetition principle still applies.
• Is ivy really that important? In many areas it’s a key late-season food source. Managed sensibly, it can be one of the best “last flowers standing” in a garden.