COLUMNIST: KATIE REYNOLDS
The key to increasing the amount of wildlife in your garden is to ensure you have three things: water, shelter, and food. I wanted to share my ideas on how to build this into the design of your garden whether it be big or small, contemporary or more traditional.
Water, on whatever scale, will always do wonders for wildlife. Depending on what type of water source you include, it can be an essential drinking source, somewhere for birds to wash, for newts to breed, and frogspawn to hatch. From a design perspective, water adds another dimension to the garden.
If your garden is small then a birdbath is something you will be able to accommodate. Position it in the sight line of one of your windows so that it draws the eye outside and you can enjoy watching the birds whilst having a coffee from your favourite chair. For a more contemporary look, I have grouped three corten steel bowls in a line for a recent garden design.
For those with larger outdoor areas, a pond is a very welcome addition. Remember to research your pond installation in terms of choice of liner, access points for wildlife to enter and exit, different levels within the pond, and planting, including the use of oxygenators.
This is another element that can be scaled up or back, depending on the size of your outdoor space. On a micro scale this could be a bug hotel, either bought or home made.
If you have the space, then allow an area of your garden to run wild, stack a small log pile, and do not cut the grass. Decaying wood is a key part of the ecosystem, where fungi grows, hedgehogs and frogs shelter, and grubs and woodlice live, providing a year round food source for birds and small mammals.
Hedging is another excellent source of shelter for wildlife, and perhaps not so commonly used, is a dead hedge, and I would really recommend one if you have the space. Use sticks, branches, or any pruning from shrubs or trees that are too big for the compost heap - it is a good use for the Christmas tree too. Pile them between vertical posts and it becomes an attractive barrier which is also a haven for wildlife to shelter. It could even provide the backdrop to your pond, or you can design the hedge to snake through a space to create an extra design element.
When choosing plants and trees, make sure that wildlife is a priority in the selection process. For trees and large shrubs, make sure to have some evergreens for shelter, and some with berries for a winter food source such as hawthorn, crabapple, or rowan.
For perennial plants think about the flower structure. A fancy double flower head may look pretty, such as peony ‘Double Pink’ but it is much harder for a bee to access the nectar due to the structure, so opt for the single flower varieties.
Other good plant options include umbellifers with their open flower heads such as achillea or fennel. Consider flowers which have good seed heads to fuel wildlife through winter, like sedums, echinacea, and veronicastrum.
In the next issue of Scotland Grows, I will show you how to create a planting scheme which will work well in terms of attracting wildlife, but also look good from a design perspective.
Katie Reynolds Design offers garden and interior design services across Aberdeenshire and the North East of Scotland. She is qualified in both sectors, having trained at KLC School of Design in London, and the National Design Academy.
Gardens and interiors are often treated as separate entities in the design world but Katie is passionate about integrating the two disciplines, believing that together they define your home.
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