Gardening for Wildlife is the perfect antidote to a world of high technology, an obsession with social media and dare we say it, AI! We are now often so removed from the natural world that we forget its potential. By encouraging and supporting wildlife to thrive in your garden, you can achieve something really positive for nature, not to mention your overall well-being.

Embrace Imperfection

The perfectly manicured and weed-free lawn was a thing of envy for decades, but now a more holistic and natural style of garden is thankfully gaining popularity. This new gardening style is not only more fun, it is less maintenance and much better for wildlife.

We now don’t have to feel guilty if we have a few weeds in our beds, or the lawn is looking a bit ‘wild’, as we can tell our friends that we are creating a nature reserve in our garden! 

Choose Native Plants

Native plants are great to use for a Wildlife garden, as certain insects have evolved over thousands of years to feed and lay their eggs on a particular plant species. Leave some wilder areas for native plants, perhaps at the back of your garden, and watch the local wildlife flourish.  Nettles in the garden aren’t for everyone, but they are essential for certain butterflies. So, if you can bear it and you have the space, simply leave a couple of square metres for native wildflowers to do their thing. Alternatively, nettles can be grown in large pots, offering an easily accessible treat to nature while also stopping them from spreading.

Native hedge is also brilliant for all sorts of insects and wildlife, essentially providing them with a mini forest! 

Include Wildlife-Friendly Plants and Features 

While it’s important to leave some space for native plants, there are many non-native shrubs and perennials that are enormously beneficial to wildlife. Buddleja (The butterfly bush) is a magnet for butterflies in particular in summer. If you have a small garden, use the dwarf varieties which can easily be grown in a pot. Our Garden on a Roll wildlife borders now exclusively feature the small growing Butterfly Bush, offering a perfect wildlife friendly solution for a smaller outdoor space.

There are so many perennial flowers great for attracting insects and butterflies, such as Salvia caradonna, Penstemon, Nepeta and early flowering Bergenia and Helleborus, making them the perfect fit for our Wildlife Borders.

Bird boxes are an easy way to encourage birds and it is such a joy seeing birds use them to nest and rear their young. Remember to also feed your birds in winter to provide a safe home for them all year around.  Wildlife garden features don’t have to be limited to birds, our range of Wildlife World products include homes for hedgehogs, bee and insect hotels, and other wildlife attracting products.

Provide Water Sources

Creating a pond is one of the best things you can do to bring nature closer to your home, it is the most rewarding feature we created in our garden by far! There is so much life to observe, even if you only have room for a mini pond. Frogs, toads and newts will soon find your pond, which are not only fascinating but also act as good pest controllers in your garden.

A birdbath can also help to bring no end of joy to your garden, and is essential to birds in the summer.

Minimise Chemical Use 

It is not necessary to use harmful chemicals in your garden anymore. Most insects will never do a lot of damage in your garden, unless you are growing prize vegetables or flowers. If you are still concerned about pests on your plants, our Ecofective range offers an effective solution to treating Aphids and other potentially harmful insects, while remaining harmless to other wildlife

Transform Your Outdoor Space Today With our Wildlife Border 

We can all do our bit for conservation by trying to encourage Wildlife into our gardens, and it doesn’t have to come at a high cost - in fact it can often be the opposite! Simply relax, leave your garden less manicured, and consider the products you’re using to avoid any harmful chemicals when creating a wildlife garden.