Robins are a common sight in gardens across the UK, but there is one bulb you can plant now that will guarantee robins return to your borders come the new year
Emilia Randall GAU Writer
13:42, 20 Oct 2025
Easy way gardeners can attract more robins all year round(Image: Cris Cantón via Getty Images)
Whilst they’re typically linked with winter and the festive season, robins actually thrive across Britain throughout the entire year. Their main sustenance, worms and various insects, burrow deeper during colder periods, but when spring arrives, they become far more abundant, particularly if you cultivate this particular bulb in your garden right now ahead of the warmer months.
The simplest method to entice robins into your outdoor space is to purchase plants that will draw their prey and encourage these birds to frequent your garden year-round. Nevertheless, there’s one particular bulb you can cultivate at present that will ensure robins make their way back to your flower beds when the new year begins.
Camassia boast stunning, vibrant blooms and flourish in lengthy grass, luring insects to the vicinity, and consequently more robins. According to the RHS, Camassia are optimally planted during September through November.
The BBC notes: “These long-lived bulbs enjoy growing in moist, heavy soils in full sun or partial shade. Try naturalising them with meadow buttercups.”
Camassia serve as powerful magnets for pollinators as well as aphids, which constitute part of a robin’s dietary requirements. Gardening by design explains that for robins, aphids represent part of a crucial “mini-beast” food web, reports the Express.
It noted that supplying nourishment for robins “also means sustaining a healthy eco-system of ‘mini-beasts’ for birds to eat and feed their young in spring and summer.”
Camassia boast stunning, vibrant blooms and flourish in lengthy grass, luring insects to the vicinity, and consequently more robins(Image: Alex Manders via Getty Images)
It continued: “And yes, this might mean allowing natural predators – birds, ladybirds etc. – to take care of the less desirable caterpillars and aphids and balance out the relative populations.”
Nevertheless, if you maintain a bird feeding station, remain vigilant as bushes, trees and even flower beds can offer ideal hiding spots for cats, and most birds won’t feel secure if a feeding point is positioned too close to the earth or adjacent to any foliage.
Placing a bird feeder close to plants can cause anxiety in birds and reduce their likelihood of returning to your garden, whilst also potentially harming your outdoor area.
Installing a bird feeder near your flower borders or vegetable patches could subject the greenery to bird waste, which can heighten the risk of bacteria, illness or other pathogens affecting plants.
Robins also relish fruits, sunflower seeds, crushed peanuts, but they especially adore mealworms, so keeping these in stock will draw them to your garden.
Offering robins with a dependable food supply now boosts their prospects of remaining fit and surviving when the harsher weather arrives.
Making the effort to help them now will guarantee your garden becomes a beloved retreat for them.
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