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Wildlife friendly front garden
LLM
Posts: 52
Hi all,
We have recently had brambles/ overgrowth cut back which has left us with an area and not much in terms of inspiraton with what to do!
We have bought Pyracantha hedging to maintain the border (previously a fence) but it still leaves a lot of open space to plant.
It's a dapple shaded area and in the South so not extreme weather.
Would love to plant for wildlife and keep it as natural as possible.
Thanks!
We have recently had brambles/ overgrowth cut back which has left us with an area and not much in terms of inspiraton with what to do!
We have bought Pyracantha hedging to maintain the border (previously a fence) but it still leaves a lot of open space to plant.
It's a dapple shaded area and in the South so not extreme weather.
Would love to plant for wildlife and keep it as natural as possible.
Thanks!
0
Posts
Here's how I planted it, in 4 layers:
- Periwinkle (Vinca minor) covering the whole patch as dense ground cover for all kinds of life (if the area is segregated, so the vinca can't invade your other beds)
- Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) growing through the periwinkle (I direct-sowed the nigella seeds on the bare soil when the vinca was not yet dominant; now it self-seeds every year)
- Aster frikartii 'Monch" for late-season flowers
- A row of Buddleias at the back of it all
It's a very low-maintenance patch as the vinca suppresses most weeds, and I found all the plants to be quite drought-tolerant (even the asters). I have to cut back the Asters and Buddleias in late winter and apart from that it all just looks after itself.
Just one idea. There are loads of other things you could grow.