This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Wildlife friendly
We are having our garden wall rebuilt and I have a clear canvas for plants/shrubs etc., on the piece of land that runs along side the property. The size I have to work with is around 4-5ft deep, then 20ft long. We have to bear in mind the "line of sight" so don't want to plant anything that is more than 3ft tall unless it can be trained close to and up over the wall. I want to plant as much and as many wildlife friendly plants/flowers as I can, any ideas chaps?
As I'm new to this I will need guidance in when to plant also. Any help you can give will be greatly received.
Thanks
0
Posts
Try the RHS website for your plants, then go to the plant suppliers, most websites have wildlife friendly sections especially the better ones, crocus/mr fothergills/ thompson&morgan/ suttons/marshalls.
A mixture of low growing shrubs and perennials, clematis, grasses, the odd structural plant to give variation.
The plant selections are endless, the links below to the rhs give a list of year round plants to choose from so you can encourage pollinators year round.
A small pond will encourage wildlife.
try the rspb see link.
GW wildlife gardening section for other ideas.
There are buckets of information on the web as well as many books available.
The best advice I can give is to tackle it one step at a time, maybe start with a small pond first (it can be tiny), then go on to plants.
A small plan will help to define any ideas you have.
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Sustainable-gardening/pdfs/RHS_Pollinators_PlantList_v1
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Sustainable-gardening/pdfs/20120702_PerfectForPollinators-WildflowerList_V1
http://homes.rspb.org.uk/
Best of luck.
Hi peachy
I would say, when you see some of the wild flowers in bloom
you won't want to hide them away!!
All of my garden for wildlife is on show to the street
and so many people say how nice it is,
some even go away with seeds or plants of those they like !!
Hi Peachy,
There is such a long list of wildlife friendly plants, trees etc and over the last few years there have been lots of extremely good and informative threads written on the RSPB Community Forum's 'Greenfingers' section. Basically there you will find everything is about wildlife gardening and planting for all sorts of wildlife and native shrubs, hedges etc.
Take a look by following this link and then browse this thread and the whole 'Greenfingers' section, I guarantee you will find what you're looking for there!
http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/homesforwildlife/f/903.aspx
Hope this helps
Best
Higgy
Hi All
Many thanks for all your comments, much appreciated, sorry for the late response but have been working all week, just managed to pick these up.
Dave, thanks for the/ advice & links will spend the day surfing & planning, any ideas when I need to start?
Patty, The good news is the strip of ground is the street side so will be on show anyway.
Higgy, did think of the RSPB website but was not sure where to look on there. Once the builders have finished next weekend I'll make a start and let you all know who it is going.
Many thanks to you all
Looking forward to it Peachy, don't forget to ask if you need any help.
Best
Higgy
Peachy, there is a cold snap forecast, I'd do what you can for now, but leave it till after the cold weather to plant, and digging frozen ground is almost impossible.
If your'e on clay, I'd get the top layer exposed so the frost can get at it.
Dave
Loads of clay here in Suffolk!!!
I've dug up the old shrubs and climbers that were there and potted them up just in case I decide to use them somewhere else in the garden. I'm now left with the weed suppressant, can I just pull that back tomorrow or do I need to do more?