A garden that invites wildlife in is rich in so many ways, as these diverse spaces illustrate
1 WALLED, WILD AND WISTFUL
Garden design by Tom Stuart-Smith Tom’s design for Middleton Lodge, North Yorkshire, ‘blends informal wild flowers and grasses with more structural clipped yews and beech – favoured by nesting birds – together with trees and roses creating intimate spaces for garden visitors and wildlife. Hedgehogs frequently nestle undisturbed throughout their winter hibernation. The garden has been designed to provide interest all year and is divided into four areas that each reach their peak at different points throughout the seasons. There is always a part of the garden that is flowering, fruiting or sculptural.’ The nature and longevity of flowering plants attracts an abundance of insects: ladybirds, aphids, beetles, butterflies and bees, many from the estate’s own hives.
2 BEST OF BOTH
Garden design by Ann-Marie Powell ‘We relish the opportunity to design gardens which demonstrate “best practices” that anyone can implement to attract and support more wildlife into their gardens, without distracting from the garden’s aesthetic beauty.’ This quintessential English country garden has been ‘planted with country classics, roses, wisteria and lavender, to attract crucial pollinators; naturalistic planting softens the terraces, bringing nature into the space.’ The garden features looser wild flower meadows, an orchard and wildlife pond. ‘I really love this beautiful, wildlife-friendly scheme, which I believe has stood the test of time.’
3 WATERING HOLES
Garden design by Amber Crowley Kilmartin Castle’s garden is ‘one step up from the wild, its planting and colour palette barely discernible from the enveloping Scottish landscape. The garden reclaims areas of low biodiversity, planted with native plants to provide food and shelter to wildlife, which wanders in freely. Areas rich in biodiversity, such as outcrops of rock with ferns, heathers and blueberries, were left undisturbed. The design pivots around the plant-filtered, wild-swim pool, its sloping edge facilitating safe access for the frogs, toads, newts, dragonflies, small and larger mammals it attracts.’
4 GLADE IN THE SHADE
Garden design by Stefano Marinaz Stefano’s Chiswick design ‘transformed a modest space into a captivating oasis. Wildlife is embraced with space-dividing, habitat-creating log “waves”, which attract insects, small mammals, amphibians and reptiles. Diverse, low-interference planting affords breadth of habitat and food supply. Everything from trees and climbers to self-seeding plants love-in-a-mist, creeping thyme, valerian, cerinthe and Lunaria annua reduce the need for replanting. Grasses, Sesleria autumnalis, ac
