Plants to attract wildlife, particularly butterflies and bees

[CruCru]

We are in the Isle of Wight and have a fairly clay y soil. There is lots of light and usually a bit of rain every day.

I need to plant some hedges but also want to put in a wild bit in the garden to encourage wildlife.

Please let me know if you have any recommendations.

Ah, also I need a lilac. We already have honeysuckle (but it really needs cutting back).

Nettles.
Great for attracting wildlife.

Buddliea is called The Butterfly Bush -you can see why!

Lavender and comfrey are bee magnets.

TheHoneyBadger it may be cerastium (snow in summer)

Fennel. No idea how it grows on clay I'm afraid. We have a fennel bush - it's gets to about 6 ft tall at this time of year and I cut it down to about 6 inches sometime in the autumn.

Flying things love it, simply love it. I have never seen so much variety of flying things! I can watch it for hours. Furthermore, all the flying things ignore us when we're in the garden because they're far too busy playing on the fennel to be interested. Win-win I say!

Mind you, it's not particularly pretty, so plant it somewhere out of hte way.

I have a honeysuckle wall which the bees adore.

Ah, talked with my gardener today. He said it's pointless getting a lilac (too much sea spray) but recommended getting some heather in a spot I didn't know what to do with.

Things in my garden that seem to be popular with bees and butterflies at the moment:

Verbena - There were five butterflies and a bee on it when I left my house yesterday!)
Poppies - Each bloom doesn't last long but the bees love them
Salvia
Thyme/Chives/Lavender - Actually all herbs seem to be popular with bees
Rocket - This will attract moths in the evening too, which may in turn attract bats)
Foxglove - Note that this is a toxic plant so consider any little ones before planting
Raspberries
Sunflowers
Nasturtiums
Cabbages - Butterflies won't leave mine alone :(
Fruit trees - Will attract insects and birds if you have any space

The birds love the hawthorn berries, so I would recommend including some in your hedgerow. I would also include some blackthorn, as it is the first thing to bloom every year and looks cheerful at the end of winter. It also gives berries, and if you can get to them before the birds eat them all you can make some sloe gin ;) I also have a sweet bay bush in part of my hedge which means I don't have to buy bay leaves any more.

To make the garden truly wildlife friendly definitely consider a pond, rockery and a woodpile. Also don't be tempted to treat aphids if you can get away with it otherwise there will be no food for lady birds and lacewings.

Argh! My builders have cleared the wrong bed! So my rosemary, cotoneaster and thing I liked but didn't know what it was are gone. They were a bit too woody but it is annoying all the same.

I have ordered some more cotoneaster and have asked my gardener if he can plant lavender mixed in with some teuchrium and calamintha nepetoides (blue cloud). Sorry, I saw them at a NT house and only know them by the names on the labels there.

Bees like my Poached Egg Plants, (Limnanthes). which do well in the light shade under conifer, front of informal border. I don't water or dead-head and they frequently self-seed, as well as providing a useful bright colour.

Does anyone have any teuchrium? I've tried searching for it but it seems like it's hard to get hold of.