Wild about Gardens | Garden Designer

Wild about gardens has garden design ideas for you that enable humans and wildlife to both enjoy and share outdoor spaces. Wildlife gardens and wildlife garden design are topics which are close to my heart, and I feel – or at least hope! – that more people would love to know how easy it is to incorporate wildlife friendly elements into their garden.

There are many aspects to creating a garden that accommodates wildlife and is still a space for people to use and enjoy. But for now, let’s get an overview and a few specific ideas to help inspire you.

Many people have the conception that a wildlife friendly garden is a messy one. It might be, but it certainly doesn’t have to be! Or perhaps you’re concerned as you have a small garden and it already has to accommodate: –

children, plus assorted play equipment,
adults,
a pet dog,
two cats,
patio with BBQ,
ornamental plants,
edible plants,
trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, flowering bulbs…
and a washing line.

So how on earth are you going to make it wildlife friendly as well?

In the famous and friendly words of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – “Don’t Panic”.

Whilst the numbers of UK plant and animal species have declined by almost two thirds in the last 50 years, it’s not too late to do something. But we should be acting now, or at least planning and getting started started on some of the easier bits.

One of the main reasons for our common garden species becoming less common is loss of habitat. Which is where being wild about gardens comes in. There are approximately 15 million gardens in the UK, covering a larger area than all the National Nature Reserves out together.

That’s a lot of garden. By making those gardens more wildlife friendly we can provide habitats for some of our native species. Encouraging hedgehogs, bats, house sparrows, swifts, newts and frogs into your garden is all good.
But how do we make your garden more wildlife friendly without making a mess?

Simple Garden Design Ideas for Humans and Wildlife

Add bird feeders around the garden to provide different types of food to encourage a variety of bird species. In other words, don’t limit yourself to one bird feeder on the patio. Although do have at least one placed so you can enjoy watching the garden birds.

I like to take this idea a stage further in a garden design or planting design, choosing flowers and shrubs both for your pleasure and as a larder for wildlife. There are many plants that provide a food source –

when in bloom – pollen, nectar
as seed heads
as berries

So it is possible to grow plants with summer flowers that carry seed heads or berries over the winter. These provide a decorative feature for humans to enjoy and a food source for birds and some small mammals. See blog links below for suggestions for shrubs and herbaceous perennials you could grow.

Seed heads

These can be decorative plants. There are a few suggestions here to get you thinking, and more on these and others at the end.

Sunflowers, both the annual sunflower Helianthus annua, and the perennial members of the family such as Helianthus, Heleniums and Rudbeckia.

Teasels, Dipsacus fullonum, a biennial and British native species, may not suit those who prefer a tidy garden, as they do have a habit of spreading around. But their seed heads are very attractive when rimed with frost in your winter garden.

Giant Scabious, Cephalaria gigantea, is a favourite of mine, I admit. It has fascinating flower buds if you look closely; flowers for a long time and then has seed heads.

These tall plants will make an architectural statement at the back of the border. Or you could add Verbena bonariensis in groups of 5 threaded throughout a planting scheme to give height whilst still being able to see through.

Berries

Rowan, Sorbus acuparia, also known as Mountain Ash, makes a decorative, wildlife and productive tree for a small garden. Choose from the British native species or one of the many cultivars. indeed one of the cultivars may do better than the native depending on where in the country you live.

Another native which offers blossom and edible berries is the hawthorn. As well as the more common white flowered there is native pink flowered form , the midland hawthorn. See the link below for more details.

During the autumn and winter, Berberis thunbergii atropurpurea has red berries, purple foliage and stems; the berries will last through till January, or until they’re eaten!

In a small garden, trees have to earn their keep. Cherry trees offer glorious spring blossom but buy an edible variety and you’ll have fruit to harvest too (if you’re quick!) The birds are guaranteed to eat some of them, whether of the edible or ornamental variety.

Hedges

A garden hedge is a perfect place to encourage wildlife. A native species hedge could include a mix of some or all of

Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna
Rosa rugosa
Rosa canina,dog rose
Prunus spinosa, blackthorn, sloe
Guelder rose, Viburnum opulus, not a rose!

A combination of these will give you a dense, prickly security barrier to keep out burglars but encourage birds, mammals and amphibians. You’ll also benefit from scented flowers, rosehips, and berries – for you to simply enjoy the look of, or to make sloe gin and hedgerow jelly.

With a hedge full of such wildlife friendly plants, you could easily justify the minimalist planting in the rest of your garden.

Although please avoid using a wildlife hedge as a justification for covering your front garden over with impermeable paving. Even in a small front garden with the water runoff allowed for, it looks ugly. If you are within the law, and really need such paving, then at least include large planters in to the design. These, filled with appropriate and interesting planting, will not only benefit wildlife and the general environment but add to your pleasure as well.

Wild about Gardens – getting down and dirty

If a garden is large enough, and the client is willing, then I admit I would do my best to incorporate a more ‘messy area’ into the garden design. It can be easy enough to hide this and these quieter places often better suit the garden wildlife for whom they’re created. But even smaller gardens can find room for some practical ways to become friendly to our native creatures who need a home.

For example: –

leaving space behind the compost bins for a patch of nettles
building a log pile for insects and small mammals to hibernate in down the side of the garden shed
putting up a bat box and bird box in trees away from the trampoline
adding a house martin box to the eaves of your own house
planting a raised bed wild flower meadow among the vegetable plot
building or buying a bug hotel and tucking it among the shrubs in the front garden

Many parents with small children are concerned about the safety of ponds. Let’s be clear. You do not have to have a pond in order to have a wildlife friendly garden. It is preferable to have some sort of water, but there are many other ways to encourage wildlife in your garden and provide a habitat for them.

And finally

If we’re going to be wild about gardens, we do need to remember that every garden is different, and the needs of the family who use it are not constant as children grow. For those without the concerns of small children there may be pets to consider or wheelchair access or simply a busy lifestyle. A garden that is beautiful, practical, easy maintenance, filled with scented flowers and a built in BBQ can still be wildlife friendly.

In other blogs – some are in the links below – I’ll be looking at how your garden could include some specific wildlife habitats/ And how they could be incorporated into your garden whilst keeping it human friendly too.

If you would like a wildlife friendly garden that is also a family friendly garden we’d love to create one with you, so do get in touch.

Or if you would like to learn more about your garden and gardening, why not ask about our bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden. We can help you learn gardening basics, carry out worm and other experiments and also show you how to plan a wildlife friendly ornamental border.

And for further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below and our monthly Tipsheet – You could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook too.