Alan Titchmarsh issued a warning on ITV1’s Love Your Garden on Tuesday night (Image: ITV1)
Alan Titchmarsh has issued a stark warning to gardeners across the country to start growing more of a certain type of flower instead of roses or peonies.
The gardening expert has been a mainstay on our screens with his down to earth garden advice since launching his career on ‘s Ground Force.
Now presents Love Your Garden on ITV1 and ITVX alongside co-stars Frances Tophill, Yorkshire’s Katie Rushworth and David Domoney.
And in one episode, while overhauling a D-Day veteran’s garden in the Peak District, Alan revealed that he is now ‘very conscious’ of including one type of flower instead of another in order to help insects out.
D-Day hero Jack Parrott was stunned to see his new garden (Image: ITV1)
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He told viewers to plant more single-petal flowers such as daisies, dahlias and scabious instead of ‘double flowers’ like roses, lilac, carnations and peony.
Alan told viewers: “I’m very conscious when we plant gardens at the moment to make sure we’ve got lots of pollinators.
“Our insect population in the UK which is vital to the wellbeing of every single living thing: plants, flowers, humans animals, with double flowers everywhere and lack of flower and nectars, they’ve got nothing to feed on.
“So we have lots of single flowers in my borders such as scabious which they love.”
“Single flowers have one row of daisy-like petals around the nectar rich centre whereas double flowers have layer upon layer of petals which make pollen collection too tricky.”
Roses are not as good for your garden warns Alan Titchmarsh (Image: Getty)
He then went on to describe several flowers he had added to the borders with clear and easy to access nectar in the middle “because that feeds the insects.”
The episode of Love Your Garden in question saw Alan Titchmarsh and his team overhauling a garden for D-Day veteran Jack Parrott, then-97, and his wife Margaret.
The pair had enjoyed a lovely view of the Peak District from their garden but had since lost it to a new build housing estate blocking the view.
Alan decided to try to give him a garden space fit for a hero while still paying attention to accessibility needs.
After: the transformation inspired by accessibility and the Peak District’s hills (Image: ITV1)
The design included a pergola, a mini greenhouse, potting bench and several raised beds, all raised much higher to allow Jack to wander through the garden and tend to the flowers and strawberries without needing to bend down.
Taking Jack out into the garden, which also included a large laminated painting of the RAF flying over nearby Ladybower Reservoir, a clearly thrilled Jack told Alan: “You couldn’t do better than that. You couldn’t do better than that. Thank you, thank you, oh boy.”
Margaret said: “Oh my goodness. It’s beautiful. That’s lovely in’t it Jack.”