Creating a garden with wildlife in mind

The key to attracting wildlife is to plant diversity, this opens up your garden to all kinds of wildlife. I am lucky in that I have different conditions in my garden, drier areas at the top of the garden provide free draining soil whereas down in the bottom garden there are underground springs so I created a bog garden. By embracing these different conditions it allows me to grow a diverse range of plants. However, it is important to do some research and find out just what condition your plants prefer. It is important to remember ‘right plant, right place’. Not everyone may have a ready-made bog garden but with a bit of work it is perfectly possible to create one.

Having lots of flower types is very advantageous to all kinds of wildlife, allowing a range of bees and insects that may require specific types of flowers to feed successfully. Try to have something in flower for as many weeks as possible. With a bit of research you should be able to have a succession of different plants in flower from snowdrops in January right through to plants like Salvia that will continue to flower into late summer and early autumn. Winter can be a challenge but there are shrubs like Daphne or winter flowering honeysuckle that bees love and they will fill those lean months.

But don’t just think of planting on the flat, go up, climbers are fantastic to give height and interest. Clematis Montana with its tangle of stems provides a perfect shelter and place for birds to nest and raise young and the early flowers are a magnet for insects. Try to choose something that may provide fruit like small hips on a climbing rose or leave some Ivy to flower and fruit somewhere. The value of which cannot be overestimated.

If you only have enough room for one small tree then I would definitely recommend a crab apple. Our Malus John Downie is hard to beat, it holds its fruit well and the birds adore them providing valuable winter food for black birds, thrushes and other smaller birds.

Finally water is something that you should try to include. It doesn’t have to be a big pond, even a half barrel size is enough to attract a wide range of insects and if you make sure you have a stone or similar to allow the birds to drink it will give you hours of interest.