The insects you actually want in your garden and how to get them

But Cutting, who this month received a Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowship to support her work on the corridor, says this project aside, anyone gardening anywhere can follow her guidelines and grow plants that provide additional resources for native insects and brings more nature back into our cities. In this time of climate change and escalating species extinction, Cutting says she has found “people like to be part of something bigger, especially when it’s creating positive change”.

So how to make the sort of garden that’s not just for people but for native insects too?

First up, Cutting says you don’t need a lot of room. While the more room that can be planted up the better, even a single large pot can be beneficial. The key is to fill your designated space with a diversity of plants that will attract a diversity of pollinators.

As for what these plants might be, Cutting says the science is repeatedly showing that plants that occur naturally in your local area attract more indigenous biodiversity than plants from other places. She wants 80 per cent of the corridor’s plants to be indigenous.

They will also need to suit the particular conditions of your site and together should offer flowers all year round.

A list of possible contenders is included in Cutting’s ‘Melbourne Pollinator Corridor Handbook’ (for sale at theheartgardeningproject.org.au). Another useful tool is an online list of species drawn up by experts from the University of Melbourne in a project with the City of Melbourne (freely accessible at melbourne.vic.gov.au/plantingguide). Visiting your local indigenous nursery will also give you ideas.

If you have the room, a range of heights – including groundcovers, shrubs and trees – is ideal and by incorporating a variety of other materials, including logs and stones, you can provide additional habitat. Dried stems, dead seed heads and wild “tangles” can also be safe havens.

But while Cutting is all for letting some things unfold naturally she does not advocate all-out neglect. “This is not set and forget gardening,” she says. Watering, weeding, trimming and feeding are all part and parcel of the endeavour. “And I think care begets care,” Cutting says. “If you show care other people pick up on it.”

As for what not to do, “lay off the cides” – including, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, miticides and fungicides – is her advice. “We don’t need them we really don’t.”

Leaf blowers should also be avoided because they can harm insects residing in the foliage, and freely roaming cats – notoriously efficient predators – are another no-no.

But paying close attention to what’s going down is a definite yes-yes. People are just one element in this sort of gardening. “Bring awareness to the other living critters that are near. It’s the most wonderful feeling for me when I know an insect is feeling at home in what I have created.”

Go to worldbeeday.org.au for more information on World Bee Day

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