– Andrew Jackson is director of Wakehurst

» Friends of Kew get free entry to Wakehurst and free parking, as well as a 10% discount in the shops and cafés. Plan your next trip soon – see p36 and What’s On on p71 for inspiration

» You can adopt a seed from a wide choice of wildflowers to help support Kew’s vital conservation work – go to www.kew.org/support-kew/adopt-a-seed to find out more

Both the common and botanical names of this plant allude to its historical uses. In 1753 Carl Linnaeus described the species, giving it the species name dysenterica due to reports by Russian soldiers of using this plant to cure dysentery. The botanical name for the genus, Pulicaria, originates from the Latin for flea (pulex), while ‘bane’ in the common name is derived from Old English, meaning to destroy, ruin or kill; both refer to the historical practice of burning this plant and using the smoke to deter fleas.

Common fleabane is included in the list of ‘100 best butterfly nectar plants’, compiled by the UK charity Butterfly Conservation, and 18 butterfly species have been recorded enjoying its late-summer nectar from July and August through to September. My favourites among these are the resident small copper, which may use fleabane as its primary nectar source, the dashingly beautiful silver-washed fritillary – my icon of summer, often seen feeding in woodland rides – and the migratory clouded yellow, which can suddenly appear in Wakehurst’s meadows in August. The bright yellow, flat-topped inflorescences of this member of the daisy family can hold up to 100 florets for butterflies to probe for nectar, and are borne on branched stems up to 60cm tall.

For me, a sumptuous blend of order and disorder could be used to describe our careful management of the gardens and nature reserves at Wakehurst. On a large scale, we seek to blend a highly controlled and colourful garden around the Mansion with the enveloping landscape of meadows, woodlands

and wetlands. As you descend from the Mansion lawns down through the Slips and into the Water Gardens, we aspire to take you on a sensory journey where wild plants integrate with exotic and ornamental species from around the world. Descending further down Westwood Valley, you enter a woodland of native oaks standing shoulder to shoulder with trees from eastern Asia, while the woodland floor is carpeted with native ancient woodland plants.

At the bottom of the valley, next to the Field Study Centre, you can gain access to the Loder Valley Nature Reserve, where traditional management of the woods, meadows and wetlands aims to reap a harvest while enhancing wildlife. This area feels wilder, arguably due to a more relaxed human touch. Fleabane can be seen here in dense colonies on the damper woodland rides and in the grasslands.

When you visit Wakehurst this summer, do look out for fleabane in the gardens and nature reserves. As you pass by or stop to admire a feeding butterfly, consider adding some native plants to your garden and try to get comfortable with a little spontaneity or even disorder.

Among the 18 species of butterfly known to visit common fleabane is the clouded yellow, which migrates to the UK from North Africa and southern Europe

IN THE GARDENS

Allowing a little leeway in gardens for unplanned arrivals can often bring enchanting, wildlife-friendly rewards, as Andrew Jackson discovers

Tales of the unexpected

Spontaneity is something I have to work at in my own garden. Allowing plants to wander and naturalise is part of the artistry of gardening. But I find a tension between order and disorder, and planning versus the unexpected. My own acceptance or enjoyment of the arrival of an unexpected new plant battles with a desire to weed it out.

A few years ago I left a new arrival with woolly greyish leaves to see what would happen. Later that summer it produced an abundance of golden flowers and attracted an array of bees and butterflies right through August and September. It turned out to be a wild plant that I know from the meadows, wetland edges and damp woodland rides at Wakehurst. At times it forms dense colonies, elsewhere one or two individuals appear in the mix. My surprise arrival was the common fleabane, Pulicaria dysenterica. Ph

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