Angle shades, the moth that got Susie hooked
On a sunny June morning, Susie White and her two young grandchildren opened an overnight live moth trap in the garden of her Northumberland home.
To the delight of the youngsters, what was akin to a moth selection box revealed colourful specimens with evocative names such as the pink and lime green of Elephant Hawk, the grey Poplar Hawk-moth, a sulphur yellow Brimstone Moth, its wings edged in chestnut brown triangles, a Coxcomb Prominent with its tufted punk headpiece, Garden Pebble, Green Carpet, Flame Shoulder and Latticed Heath, each with their own character and patterning.
With 38 years spent as a professional gardener and author, Susie’s mission has been to create gardens whose beauty caters for people and which also attract, feed and shelter pollinators like moths and butterflies, and a wider array of wildlife. A garden which works for all.
Susie worked on her sublime Chesters Walled Garden in Northumberland for 23 years.
Then 15 years ago she moved with husband David to Allendale in Northumberland and repeated the garden creation feat from scratch on what was bare and uncultivated land.
Susie White in her garden and her latest book
On one level the garden works both day and night for moths and butterflies, which help wildlife and plants.
There is plenty to attract, with around 2,500 species of moths in the UK and 59 species of butterflies.
But there is also a bigger picture. Susie says: “Gardening for both wildlife and people is my overriding aesthetic. As gardeners, we can make a huge difference to nature.
“Adding up all the gardens in the UK has been estimated as totalling over 10 million acres, so we can make a real difference. We can grow wildflowers in our borders, allowing a bit of the countryside in, grow non-native plants that have nectar for adult insects, and mix and match as many varieties as possible at the same time as making it beautiful to look at.”
There is plenty to attract, with around 2,500 species of moths in the UK and 59 species of butterflies.
Dramatically patterned garden tiger on thyme
Susie says: “Moths and butterflies are particularly threatened, so it’s important to do anything that we can to help them in our gardens. They are like the canary in the coal mine, indicators of the health of the environment, and their loss impacts on so many other forms of life.
“Moths are a crucial but forgotten pollinator, often overlooked in favour of their better-known cousin – the butterfly. But, by ignoring moths, we are missing out on gardens that could be filled with more joy, movement and biodiversity.”
Now Susie has written a new book, titled The Gardener and the Moth: Planting for Moths and Butterflies, published by Saraband at £8.99. It is a follow-up to her previous recent book Second Nature: The Story of a Naturalist’s Garden, which describes how she fashioned her current plot.
The latest book will be launched on Friday November 21 at 6.30pm at Cogito Books in Hexham, with a short reading and talk by Susie.
And with moths featuring prominently, it is apt that it is also the night when Hexham’s Christmas lights will be switched on.
Elephant and Poplar-Hawk moths
It was at Chesters that Susie came across a specimen – the Angle Shades – which would open her eye to the beauty and diversity of moths.
That includes what is held to be the most beautiful moth in the UK, the Merveille du Jour, which translates as Marvel of the Day.
“The Angle Shades was an amazing creation and I suddenly realised how amazing moths were, and that started me off,” says Susie.
What has been created in Allendale are a large flower garden and a vegetable garden, both bounded by drystone walls, and a wildflower meadow.
“When we first moved here, we had been attracted by the derelict state of the land, a blank canvas in which to let loose the many plants I had brought with me from my previous garden. Growing from seed, especially annuals, added to the mix, but always with an emphasis on useful plants, those with accessible nectar or pollen,” says Susie.
“The ground was lifeless and worm-less, but is now packed with life from an annual mulching of the borders and the compost from our three bins.
“The next stage was to plant up the flower garden using species attractive to insects. This is the fundamental building block of an interconnected garden.”
Now hedgehogs overwinter in the cover of ornamental grasses. Mallards, red-legged partridges and garden warblers have nested.
A view of Susie’s garden
“It is in the combination of many different flower forms and shapes that we can attract a wide range of insects. That also makes it beautiful to the eye and, for me, a wildlife garden needs to please both the gardener and all the other beings that live in it.
“Many bedding plants are useless for insects, having been bred for larger flowers to the detriment of their reproductive parts. Petunias, begonias or busy lizzies are frequently highly coloured and flower for ages but give nothing for pollinators.
“By making simple choices, we can achieve just as colourful a garden at the same time as it being active and alive.”
Another attraction of moths and butterflies is their many imaginative names bestowed by the naturalists of the past.
Aptly name Merveille du Jour
Susie says: “Georgian and later Victorian naturalists were fascinated by insects, as they were by so many things in the natural world. They categorised and collected, lining up labelled specimens in drawered cabinets.”
These naturalists gave names to moths such as Peach Blossom, Brindled Beauty, Cinnabar, Rosy Rustic, Cream-spot Tiger.
Tasting unpleasant, or pretending to, is a trick used by some moths to prevent being eaten. Chinese Character is a moth that imitates a bird dropping.
This moth has a resting position of wings folded upwards and with its rounded appearance – head and feet tucked away – and combination of creamy white, brown and grey, it is a perfect mimic.
The Gardener and the Moth: Planting for Moths and Butterflies, published by Saraband at £8.99 will be launched on November 21 at Cogito Books in Hexham, at 6.30pm.
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