Meadows by design

I should think more about the articulation between what an ecologist would call "unimproved grassland" and landscape design. I met Andrew George the other day, a locally based painter who is perhaps better known for his landscapes for butterflies, including the British Butterfly Garden at the gigantic Butterfly World in Hertfordshire. His combination and manipulation of native flora and design is alluring, and opens up all sorts of possibilities for folk to include native planting in their gardens. Do have a look at his book, "The Butterfly Friendly Garden". The approach is unashamedly and understandably very butterfly-centric (even if it's about lepidoptera I would have expected bees to have at least made it into the index, for example!), but it's a fascinating read and offers a lot of sound advice as well as ideas. It has given me considerable food for thought; even though I don't have a budget the size of a luxury saloon car there's a lot I could do. If I did have, give me Brimstones over Beamers any day.