Peter Dowdall: How to ensure a garden is catnip for biodiversity

Irish Examiner garden columnist Peter Dowdall shares his secrets to creating a haven for all creatures great and small 

Cats love playing with catmint, perhaps not as much as its first cousin catnip, nepeta cataria. Picture: iStock

During late spring, Clematis montana bursts into bloom throughout the landscape, draping pink blooms on stone walls, buildings, pergolas and trellises all over the country. It’s the quintessential “cottage garden” climber and I adore it though its blooms last for such a short period of time.

Later in the summer, clematis offers much larger and more showy blooms with varieties of C. viticella, which will flower from June-August, and varieties of Clematis tangutica which will extend the period of colour on your walls right into October and beyond.