Attracting Wildlife to your Garden is Not Impossible

There is nothing better than sitting down in the garden with a glass of wine and listening to the sounds of various wildlife that have set up home in your garden. But for many, attracting wildlife can be difficult, particularly if you live in a big town or city where green space is not exactly abundant. If this is something you want to put right, I can help.

The key to attracting wildlife is variety. Think of your garden as a number of habitats rather than just one. If you want to attract birds and insects, consider using the services of a landscape gardener like those found here at D&G Garden World. We know just how to make your garden irresistible to all sorts of wildlife.

Adapting your Space

If space is a bit of issue, we could put up a trellis or fencing to allow growing plants to spring up and attract insects. Alternatively we could plant a mixed species hedge in place of an old fence, a sure-fire way to get birds and other wildlife interested in your garden.

I could also help create brand new habitats in ways that you may not have thought of. Even minor things such as laying new turf and letting it grow a bit longer in certain areas will attract species never before seen or heard, like crickets or grasshoppers.

The bottom line is you do not need a huge, lush green garden to have abundant wildlife. It helps – but it is not a necessity. Landscape gardeners can always find ways to use what you have got to your advantage. Give us a call if you need some help and we’ll soon turn your garden into a wildlife paradise.

Garden Design: How to Make Best Use of the 3rd Dimension

The first step in designing your garden is to draw an accurate ground plan so you know exactly how much space you have to work with. One mistake many people make after measuring the length and width is to forget that there’s another important dimension – height. Extending your garden upwards adds visual interest, can make your garden appear larger, and provides additional growing space, which is especially valuable in a small garden.

Flat Garden
If you have a flat garden with the majority of plants at the same low level, consider using any boundary fences or walls to support climbing plants. A long, blank wall can provide year-round colour and interest if it’s covered with a carefully chosen selection of climbers. Some plants and shrubs will need trellis or guide wires to help them reach the heights while others can scramble up perfectly well on their own.

Fenced Garden
If you are planting against a fence be aware that some mature climbers can be quite heavy so check that the fence posts are firm and the fence itself is strong enough to take the extra weight.

Arches, pergolas and obelisks are popular ways of introducing some height. You can buy them ready-made, choosing a design to fit in with the overall style of your garden, or construct your own. A wide range of plants, decorative, edible or both, can be trained over them. One word of advice: a rose-covered archway looks romantic but you won’t love it if you get scratched every time you pass through! For roses without tears make sure you choose from the many thornless climbing and rambling varieties that are available.

Planted Garden
Introducing tall plants is an easy way of introducing vertical shapes into your planting scheme. For summer colour, hollyhocks and giant sunflowers are fun to grow and impossible to overlook. Bamboos are fast growing but might need to be contained, and many ornamental grasses are not only tall but also come in some striking colours.

Trees are the tallest plants you can grow, but must be chosen with care if you have limited space. Large trees too close to buildings can cause expensive problems. They will also shade a large area and take a lot of water from the ground, which will affect other plants in the vicinity.

Before you buy a tree check the maximum height it will reach and how far the roots will spread. If you have any doubts it’s always best to get expert advice. The good news is that many specialist tree nurseries can offer small and dwarf varieties that will live happily in restricted spaces.

Vertical Gardening
A relatively new idea in garden design, but one that is generating a lot of interest, is vertical gardening or creating living walls. The idea is to grow plants close together in individual pockets formed in a panel that has a built-in irrigation system. One or more of these panels are then fixed to a wall. Once the plants are established the panel is hidden beneath the foliage giving the impression that the plants are growing out of the wall. The possibility of growing strawberries next to your bedroom window is certainly intriguing!

Planning new features to add height to your garden is the easy part. Carrying out those plans can involve skills you might not have and time you cannot spare. Discuss your ideas with a professional landscape gardener and benefit from his or her experience.

Five Reasons to Build Fences and Walls Inside Your Garden

Walls and fences are most commonly used to define and protect the boundaries of a garden, but they are also useful and decorative in many other situations. Here are just five reasons why you might want to include them in your garden design. Once you start thinking about it, you will probably find a lot more!

Privacy
If your favourite sunbathing spot is overlooked by a neighbouring building, or the back garden is easily visible from the front of the house, a fence or wall can be used as a screen against prying eyes. Its position is more important than its size so check your plans from all angles.

Shelter
Sunshine is wonderful, but if your patio is sometimes too hot for comfort create a patch of dappled shade by adding some decorative fencing panels. They will block the glare while still allowing a cooling breeze to waft through.

If your garden is exposed to strong winds you might consider putting up walls or fences to protect tender plants. Solid barriers can make the problem worse as the air deflected on one side causes turbulence on the other. The aim of an effective windbreak is only to slow the airflow so choose a fence or wall with plenty of gaps in it.

Dividing garden rooms
Use walls or fences to separate the vegetable plot from the lawn, or children’s play areas from your flower garden. They can be incorporated into the design of each ‘room’. For example, a low stone wall marking the edge of an ornamental garden can incorporate planters for flowers; a simple picket fence around a play area could be painted in bright colours.

Shape-changing
Steeply sloping land that is difficult to cultivate can be shaped into more manageable terraces with the help of retaining walls. It can be a big job but the transformation is usually worth the effort. The same idea can be used to add height and interest to a flat garden. A series of natural stone or brick walls can be backfilled with soil to gradually raise the ground level.

Design feature
For best results, incorporate internal fences and walls into the overall design of your garden. You don’t have to restrict yourself to rectangular brick walls or brown wooden fences. They can be made in all shapes and sizes and from a wide range of materials to suit any style of garden. They can be curved, angular, undulating, and in any colour you can imagine. Use them to harmonize with their surroundings – or to act as a contrast.

A well-built stone wall is a work of art in itself. Instead of hiding it behind plants you could even make it the main feature!

If you have some ideas for using walls and fences to enhance your garden but are not sure which materials to use, or you want advice on the best way to tackle the job, contact a professional landscape gardener who will be happy to visit and explain all the options in a free, no obligation consultation.

Designing a Winter Garden

Garden design is all about individual taste. One person’s dream garden can be another gardener’s nightmare! But one thing on which everyone agrees is that a garden should be interesting all the year round. If your outdoor space is as dreary as the weather during the winter months here are a few ideas to brighten it up.

Shapes
Bare branches of ‘ordinary’ trees can look quite extraordinary, especially if dusted with snow. Leaves, stems and seedpods, which are hardly noticed when a plant is in full flower, become the centre of attention when outlined with a sparkle of frost. When planning to introduce new plants don’t forget to find out what different species will look like in winter.

When luxuriant summer foliage has died down, the underlying shapes of the garden can be seen more easily. Stand back and try to pick out the main shapes of both hard and soft landscaping. Taking photographs or making a simple sketch can help.

If beds, borders, lawns, hedges etc. are mostly square or rectangular consider the difference introducing a few curves might make. Likewise, a tall angular shape could give an interesting visual lift to a planting scheme of predominantly soft, rounded shapes.

Colours
Unless you live in a very mild area – or have exceptionally green fingers – you won’t be able to produce floral displays as vibrant and varied as those of summer. A window box or tub near your door planted with winter-flowering pansies is the easiest way to provide a bright welcome to visitors.

Most plants that flower in the coldest months tend to have small, paler flowers but that doesn’t make them any less attractive. Light colours show up well against dark backgrounds and seem to reflect even the weakest winter sun.

Snowdrops are an obvious choice, although choosing from the hundred or so available varieties can be confusing! The common snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) is one of the earliest to flower in January, while others are more likely to appear in February or March. Winter-flowering heathers, hardy cyclamens (Cyclamen coum) and hellebores can also be relied on to flower early.
In spite of its name, the Christmas Rose (Helleborus niger) rarely blooms at Christmas but it is well worth waiting for its large, white flowers to appear from January to March.

But flowers are not the only sources of colour. Red, orange and yellow berries brighten up dull days – at least until the birds have feasted on them.

Tree bark also comes in a wide range of colours. Most people can recognise a silver birch (Betula pendula) by its white trunk, but it also has many attractive cousins such as the hardy river birch (Betula nigra) which has peeling, cinnamon-coloured bark. Many acers reveal colourful and patterned barks once they’ve shed their beautiful autumn leaves.

If you haven’t enough room for trees, perhaps you could find space for some dogwood. There are many varieties, all with colourful stems ranging from yellow to deep red and almost black.

Scents
What’s better than flowers in midwinter? Scented flowers! Many early-flowering shrubs bloom from December and smell wonderful! If you plant your favourites near your door or alongside your most-used paths you can enjoy them every time you go outside. Some of the most popular are Wintersweet, Mahonia, Viburnum, Winter jasmine, Witch hazel and Winter honeysuckle, all of which have several varieties.

Wildlife
Winter is the time when many people become more aware of the wildlife in their gardens. It’s easier to see birds in the branches of bare trees, and tracks left in snow give clues to unseen night visitors. A harsh winter often makes normally shy creatures venture closer to houses in search of food so this is the best time to encourage them.

A well-stocked bird table or hanging feeders placed within easy view of your windows can attract a surprising number of species. As well as entertaining you with their antics, birds will reward you for your generosity by searching the rest of your garden for overwintering insects and soil pests. Why not help them further by putting up some nest boxes in readiness for spring? It won’t be long!