Herbaceous
Charlye Woolman standing amongst the Echium pininana
Forget-me-nots dominate in spring in the herbaceous area in front of the house. Birds are the focus here. There are bird feeders by the house and there is a bird bath which has water pumped up into it from an adjacent pond. The overflow trickles down through stone sinks containing the large-flowered butterwort and a Sarracenia pitcher plant.
The herbaceous beds are planted with a view to attracting insects. Many plants that you read about are supposed to bee-friendly but turn out to be decidedly underwhelming in that area. After a couple of years, if a plant doesn't provide forage for bees and butterflies it is dug out and something else is tried in its place.
I carry out a survey of which flowers attract bees, how strongly they attract them and for how long. The results are to be found in the bee pages and they will be useful to anyone who wishes to make their garden better for bees.