When Urquhart & Hunt’s rewilding garden won ‘Best in Show’ at RHS Chelsea in 2002, it sparked a debate about whether rewilding could even be called gardening at all.
Traditional gardeners thought it looked untidy and untidy. If you leave your garden alone, it will become overrun with weeds. Could it overwhelm your carefully chosen flowers with invasive plants, leading to a pest and disease-infested wasteland?
Selena mows the paths and removes dangerous invasive weeds every few weeks, but does little other “gardening.” The garden frequently floods, but rewilding gardens are much more resistant to flooding than traditional gardens.
Problems can arise if you let nature take its course. If your garden becomes dominated by one type of weed, such as brambles, wildlife that depends on other plants will be left without a source of food and habitat. That’s not good for biodiversity and wildlife in general.
However, a wild garden does not mean a completely neglected garden. In The Book of Wilding by Isabella Tree, she compares pruning and mowing to herbivores munching on wild trees, shrubs, and meadows. (Please note that links to Amazon are affiliate; see disclosure).
And if you’re gardening with environmental concerns, it’s worth considering a rewilding approach. Instead of trying to grow plants in hot and dry places, cold and wet places, etc., you can simply see what arrives and what thrives.
There I enjoyed visiting environmental activist and filmmaker Selina Schellenberg’s wild garden. Her garden frequently floods, making traditional gardening difficult.
She describes herself as an inexperienced gardener, but says this way of gardening has given her confidence.
environmental activist and filmmaker Selina Schellenberg; Photographed in a wild garden.
What is garden rewilding?
Rewilding gardens are different from wildlife-friendly gardens. In The Book of the Wild, Isabella’s Tree depicts three different gardens. One is a traditional garden with a fence, trimmed hedges, mowed lawns and neat borders. There is garden lighting and tools such as leaf blowers and petrol lawn mowers are used.
The second is a wildlife-friendly garden. No pesticides are used and mowing is infrequent. Fences will be replaced with hedges, increasing habitat for wildlife and helping to improve air quality. There are piles of trees and areas of long grass. The gardeners added a pond and changed the lighting to LED fairy lights to minimize the impact on nocturnal creatures.
Are they wildlife friendly or rewilding? Both benefit biodiversity, so the choice is yours. The top garden is Serena’s garden and the bottom two photos are of Great Dixter, which is famous for its eco-friendly and wildlife-friendly initiatives.
Rewilded gardens go a step further. Hedges will need less frequent pruning and will produce more flowers and fruit. Fallen fruit is left to rot, and vines begin to creep up fences, buildings, and walls. The lawn or part of the lawn is completely wild, with self-seeding weeds, flowers and shrubs. And almost all grass is allowed to grow, with paths and paving running through it.
Serena’s garden overlooks fields, so rewilding helps the garden flow into the countryside beyond. But even if you live in a city, you can connect your garden to the wider landscape by leaving holes in your fence or hedge for wildlife to roam.
The rewilded garden is part of that expansive landscape. Whether you live in town or in the country, cut small holes in your hedges and fences to allow critters to roam.
Whether you want a wildlife-friendly or rewilded garden, the first step is to stop using pesticides and herbicides.
Rethink your garden priorities
Do not use pesticides, fertilizers or herbicides. Avoid artificial lighting at night. Don’t use power tools unless you really have to (it may not be practical to do everything by hand). Encourage hedges, trees and shrubs to flower and bear fruit, reduce the frequency of pruning, and maintain them for longer periods of time. safety. Allow grass to grow during the summer and cut paths and pavement. Leave dead trees, fallen branches, logs, and stumps (unless they present a safety issue). I’ll clean up. Remove invasive weeds by hand (check government advisories for a list of invasive plants in your area). Plant only plants that are suitable for your area and conditions. This often means “native plants” depending on where you live. Look for plants that actively help wildlife. Don’t forget pollinators that fly in at night. Do not clean up or put away unless there is a safety issue.
Serena’s wild garden
When Serena moved in, the property had been unoccupied for about a year. Mainly lawns and trees were mowed, and fences were erected around some of the ponds. She removed the fence and turned the lawn into a meadow.
The first problem was that this was a flood zone. And there are frequent floods several times in the winter.
So a traditional approach to gardening wasn’t really an option. Traditional herbaceous borders are unlikely to withstand repeated flooding.
However, grasslands provide such an environment and there are many trees and shrubs that can tolerate such treatment well.
Celina has several ponds and her garden regularly floods, so she keeps a boat. When the floods were bad, I even rowed around the garden.
Rewilding garden ideas…
Let’s start with plants. Native plants are always best in a wild garden, but if non-native plants are happily growing without encroachment, they have a role too.
In this post about gardening for biodiversity, Helen Bostock, RHS senior wildlife specialist, explains how the RHS carried out research to find out how much native plants benefit Britain’s wildlife. states that he did. Researchers found that while native plants support insects and pollinators at the highest rates, many exotic plants also provide benefits. “And there’s not much difference between the two.”
It is worth saying that the balance of native and non-native values will be different in other countries. But in Britain, connected by ancient trade and migration routes to Europe, Africa and Asia, our wildlife has often adapted to a wide range of plants.
Serena is majoring in horticulture because grass and trees grow well in her garden. She planted trees – an orchard and some birches, all native species. But she hasn’t planted anything else.
She mows a path through the grass so that wildflowers, weeds, and grass flourish on both sides. “Mowing a path means it looks a little more manicured, and having a path around the perimeter of the property helps keep visitors on the path and removes all the grass and debris in the garden. It encourages wildlife.
Trees, bushes, and grass all grow well in Serena’s garden. She prunes trees and shrubs and regularly mows grass paths. She lets everything else grow naturally.
Add a focal point and a place to sit
A pristine garden requires minimal hard landscaping. Serena didn’t add anything.
However, she really enjoys the seating area around the garden. These also add some structure and focus.
There are a few plain wood benches, as well as vintage tables and chairs. Place it where you can enjoy the sunset, a particular view, or simply view your garden from a different angle.
Look back at home.
Statues and garden ornaments give structure to the wild garden.
Serena ordered a “standing stone” with a poem written on it. She is part of a journey through the garden, mown in a circle around it, with paths in and out.
Selena had to consider flooding when a new garden building was built. Shepherd’s huts are ideal as they are located above flood level.
“Ruins” may be attractive in wild gardens. At the Great Comp Garden in Kent, the owners had to dig out lots of stones and rocks to create a border. And he turned them into “garden ruins”.
It provides a focal point, seating, and even creates an area of microclimate. Check out this post on “Garden Ruins and Follies” as it can be quite beautiful.
Another type of ‘garden decoration’ that works well with rewilding principles is ‘stumps’, or areas where tree stumps or logs are placed and planted. See this post for some weird ideas.
Weeds and invasive plants in the rewilded garden
Rewilding your garden doesn’t mean ignoring it completely. If the plant is invading, you will have to pull it out.
Selena has Himalayan balsam in her pond. It is on the UK’s list of invasive alien plants and cannot be planted or grown in the wild. Serena periodically pulls it out by hand.
She also removes the brambles from time to time, as too many can suffocate other useful plants. If one plant is buried under another, you can cut it back. That still applies to rewilding. They mimic the behavior of herds of grazing deer and bison, munching on plants and cutting them back to allow other plants to flourish.
However, although weeds are usually more active than ornamental garden plants, plants emerge in response to different types of weather and often coexist successfully. Amanda Mannering, who has a beautiful small meadow lawn, says different flowers dominate her meadow lawn each year.
And Selina says one of the joys of a wild garden is discovering new grasses and wildflowers that appear seemingly out of nowhere.
This area of Selena’s garden shows how rewilding can work in a small garden. Look for loosely trimmed hedges, long trees and grass with paths or stepping stones.
How to rewild small areas
Selena’s garden is larger than average, but you can also rewild a small garden. You may need to cut back your hedges more often than you do in larger gardens.
If you have more limited space, you may want something environmentally and wildlife-friendly without a completely wild garden. Now, let’s take a look at other gardens.
Here are some wildlife-friendly tips from the elongated town’s gardens. And here’s another style of small town backyard that’s eco-friendly and wildlife-friendly.
If you want to support wildlife but don’t want a ‘wild-looking garden’, these seven lessons from Great Dixter will show you how to combine great borders with wildlife-friendly practices.
Here are five easy wildlife-friendly tips from nature expert Joel Ashton.
You may want to grow wildflowers, but do so in a more careful way. See this post to learn how to grow wildflowers in pots and borders. It’s a very inexpensive way to fill in borders, requires very little care, and retains its beautiful color for months.
All experts agree that adding a pond or water feature is one of the best things you can do to promote biodiversity in your garden. Click here to learn how to make a mini pond using a bucket or barrel. And here how to make a container pond from an agricultural trough.
If you’re concerned about the effects of leaving your lawn alone for long periods of time, you may want to try something like “No Mow May” for a month. Or see what our lawn experts recommend at “Do you want the perfect lawn?”
A pin to remember this wild garden
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