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Gardening

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Inspiration for a wild(ish) garden

5 replies

glassbrightly · 29/08/2020 09:44

Looking for some ideas and inspiration.

We life in an urban area but because of the way our house sits we're not overlooked (we back onto the back of other gardens). The garden is long and triangular shaped and when we look out from our house we can't see other houses. We have a number of medium sized trees (including an apple and silver birch) which we want to keep. We have a small lawned area and have taken out some rotting vegetable beds, so have more room for a lawned area.

Our challenge is that We have three young DCs so we want to make the lawn area a bit bigger. We also find that the borders are hard to keep on top off - they're about 2-3 metres thick and now full of weeds.

I really want to keep the feel of the harden but when I look for inspiration online the gardens especially urban ones are really samey, and much more structured than we would want !

OP posts:
Beebumble2 · 29/08/2020 10:16

Wild, as in wild flowers will be hard work, so Perennial plants are the way to go. Crainsbill geraniums come in many forms and are a doddle to look after. They hare loved by pollinators. Persicaria is another plant that weaves its way along borders and requires virtually no maintenance.
Hebes would give you height and structure, requiring a light prune every year. Ornamental grasses look good and do their own thing.
It sounds a great project. Others will be along soon with their suggestions.

Borderstotheleftofme · 29/08/2020 11:00

I have a patch of buddleja buzz with coreopsis which, to me anyway, has a quite relaxed, ‘wildflower’ feel about it.
Very, very easy care.
I don’t fertilise or anything, just chop off the dead flowers and chop the buddleja height in half in late March

Cheesypea · 29/08/2020 11:44

You can let areas of the garden go to attract wildlife so your bang on trend there, get the kids to make a bug hotel, there's loads of advice about this online. I'd start planting that you can view from the windows or where you sit outside as a starting point. Do you know your soil type? That along with sun levels and wind exposure will influence what will thrive in your garden. Get a compost bin if you dont have one already, home made compost was a lifesaver for me in lockdown. The triangle shape of your garden sounds really interesting.

tinselvestsparklepants · 29/08/2020 11:46

Can you consider some bushes/ plants like mallow? They grow to fill up borders and look like hollyhocks, but with no effort. Second buddlia (sp!) which grow and grow but just need hacking back once a year and attract butterflies and bees.

MereDintofPandiculation · 29/08/2020 19:01

Wild, as in wild flowers will be hard work, so Perennial plants are the way to go. Crainsbill geraniums come in many forms and are a doddle to look after. "Wild flowers" and "perennial plants" aren't mutually exclusive! Many if not most wild flowers are perennial. Cranesbills include Geranium sanguineum, G. pratense, G. sylvaticum, all of them thoroughly garden-worthy, and the white form of G rovertianum is available from nurseries too.

You could fill the whole garden with garden varieties of perennial wild flowers- foxgloves, evening primrose, mallow, forget-me-not, wild daffodils, native bluebells, lily-of-the-valley, the purple-leaved version of cow parsley, the variegated-leaved ground elder, rose-bay willowherb, purpple loosestrife (Lythrum), yellow/dotted loosestrife, (Lysimachia), marsh marigold, the white version of ragged-robin ....

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