• Rosemary,
• Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) ,
• Bird’s foot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) ,
• Thyme
• low-growing yellow sedum,
• Knapweed (Centaurea nigra),
• Viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare)
• Lavender ‘Gross’
• Red clover (Trifolium pratense

Finally this summer (2024), the 5 planters on the 5th floor terrace of an office opposite the Barbican finally sprung into life thanks to an irrigation system. Before it was fitted (it took a year to get it agreed and an outside tap fitted etc), the planters always looked rather sad and nothing grew well in the two very shallow ones. But the plants listed above are all now thriving and feeding passing bees in succession from early spring to late summer.

I even managed to get some photos of Common carder bees (Bombus pascuorum) on the lavender x ‘Grosso’ and Red clover in August.

This is the sorry sight in March before the watering system was installed. It is a drip system and receives 5 minutes of water every 12 hours (on top of any rain that falls). Even though we’ve had a wet spring/summer, there have been long periods without rain when the planters can dry out very quickly, so the plants conserve their nectar leaving less for hungry pollinators to consume.

Although it’s not clear from this photo, we do have Red mason bees (Osmia bicornis) nesting in the two bee hotels attached to the planters by a metal pole. In spring, the Rosemary will feed them.