Plants to aid your environment

The cotoneaster only traps the pollution in its hairy leaves, it doesn't absorb it or alter it, so when it rains, all that trapped particulate matter will be washed onto the soil below. Unlucky gardener! And who has room for a 2 metre deep hedge in their front garden?

If pollution gets trapped by plants then drops onto the ground to be absorbed by the soil surly that is still better than someone taking it into their lungs, I was just qurious to know what other plants, like the willow, were considered good for the environment, not necessarily good to plant in the garden

I don't really know what answer you're looking for, Spec?
All plants are good for the environment in some way or another. Trees are being planted to offset the carbon used by big businesses.

I'm not looking for any special answer, just what can be used to improve certain conditions, like cleaning the air or stopping sound, though I remember reading about a plant, wondering sailor I think, that was good for cleaning the air of fumes from wall insolation, so it was tips like that I was looking for

Never heard of "Wondering sailor"!

Surly most plants are good for the environment! No plants means no pollinators, no pollinators, means no plants and no bigger beasties that feed on the plants and / or the pollinators and so on.
Obviously there’s a few exceptions to this rule. The one that springs to mind is rhododendron. Supports very little insect life & poisons the ground it grows in.

Have I over simplified things again? 

I have a rhododendron in the garden which is full of life!  It has briar roses growing through it and I have robins,sparrows and blackbirds either nesting or roosting in it. Whenever I walk past it it's like a scene from Hitchcock's THE BIRDS as they all fly out. For some reason the local cats don't bother the birds that are there either?
I know that in the wild the rhododendron is classed as a weed, but I wouldn't be without mine in the garden.

Wildflower meadows are the way to go as far as I am concerned. Even local Councils are using them because they need very little maintenance and are a pleasure to look at.

Never heard of "Wondering sailor"!

There is a trailing house plant which is known in this area as Wandering Sailor ( , Tradescantia zabrina )but the more I thought on it, I now know it wasn't that plant but a spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) that cleaned the air of fumes released by the type of cavity wall insulation that was used in, I think the late eighties or nineties

Surly most plants are good for the environment! No plants means no pollinators, no pollinators, means no plants and no bigger beasties that feed on the plants and / or the pollinators and so on.
Obviously there’s a few exceptions to this rule. The one that springs to mind is rhododendron. Supports very little insect life & poisons the ground it grows in.

Have I over simplified things again? 

I have a rhododendron in the garden which is full of life!  It has briar roses growing through it and I have robins,sparrows and blackbirds either nesting or roosting in it. Whenever I walk past it it's like a scene from Hitchcock's THE BIRDS as they all fly out. For some reason the local cats don't bother the birds that are there either?
I know that in the wild the rhododendron is classed as a weed, but I wouldn't be without mine in the garden.

If you cut and store Rhododendron for a couple of years its a good wood for a log fire

Never heard of "Wondering sailor"!

There is a trailing house plant which is known in this area as Wandering Sailor ( , Tradescantia zabrina )but the more I thought on it, I now know it wasn't that plant but a spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) that cleaned the air of fumes released by the type of cavity wall insulation that was used in, I think the late eighties or nineties

My mum always called that Tradescantia, "Wandering Jew". Maybe someone was offended so they changed it? Whatever, it does seem to have a reputation for cleaning the air. It certainly attracts dust!

Never heard of "Wondering sailor"!

There is a trailing house plant which is known in this area as Wandering Sailor ( , Tradescantia zabrina )but the more I thought on it, I now know it wasn't that plant but a spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) that cleaned the air of fumes released by the type of cavity wall insulation that was used in, I think the late eighties or nineties

My mum always called that Tradescantia, "Wandering Jew". Maybe someone was offended so they changed it? Whatever, it does seem to have a reputation for cleaning the air. It certainly attracts dust!

I have heard the name Wandering Jew,  but I have always known it as Wandering Sailor, possibly diffrent parts of the country had the diffrent names for it