“Gardening with nature is the only way” Diverse habitats and nectarrich flowers in a wildlife-friendly plot
This wildlife-friendly plot is full of nectar-rich flowers and a diverse range of habitats. Julia Faulconbridge gives us a tour
Tending a garden that welcomes wildlife is one of the most rewarding things you can do. This picturesque cottage garden in Nottinghamshire is full of wildlifefriendly habitats and nectar-rich flowers that offer a delicious drink for pollinators. “Gardening just doesn’t make sense unless it’s done in close collaboration with the natural world,” says owner Julia Faulconbridge. “We’ve been organic here for almost 33 years, avoiding all artificial fertilisers, pesticides and fungicides. The only exception is the occasional use of weedkiller as a spot application on bindweed. It’s a real problem that we see no other way of eradicating.” The garden offers a natural safe haven for wildlife. “There are mature trees and a ‘woodland edge’ habitat, log piles and leaf piles, a dry-stone wall, a wildlife pond and a sedum roof,” says Julia. “A huge range of wild creatures live here as a result. We’ve got frogs, toads and newts in the pond as well as dragonflies and damselflies. Grass snakes have been spotted in our dry-stone wall and sometimes, if we lift large stones up in the middle of winter, there are baby grass snakes hiding underneath.” Birds nest all around the garden, with several families of wrens and blackbirds setting up home here last spring. Swifts and starlings nest in the house roof and jackdaws nest in the chimney. “We introduced some homes for solitary bees and now we often see red mason bees in May and June, followed by leaf-cutter bees in late summer. These lay their eggs in our bee hotel
“Families of wrens and blackbirds set up home here”
“There are few problems with slugs or snails – the frogs soon take care of them”
compartments and nibble little half circles from leaves nearby to block up the entrances and protect their eggs. It’s incredibly clever.” Hedgehogs visit, too. “A whole family of them arrived a few years ago, which was so exciting. Although, it’s very sad that their overall numbers are on the wane.” Bumblebees, butterflies and hoverflies skit around in the sunshine, making way for bats when night falls. When the couple moved here in 1984 the garden was mainly laid to lawn. “We began by creating terracing to make a feature of its slope, and took planting inspiration from books by Gertrude Jekyll and Margery Fish,” says Julia. “We never had an overall plan and we still don’t – it’s just slowly taken shape over the years and is now what I would call a modern cottage-style garden.” Much of the lawn has been removed and the garden now boasts deep and voluptuous borders filled with perennials, and an informal gravel garden inspired by Beth Chatto’s dry gardens in Essex. “Many of the plants here self-seed,” says Julia. “They create new and beautiful plant combinations without any help from us, so many are left in situ. It’s a good thing not to be too tidy. “We also grow annuals from seed to add a little extra seasonal colour,” she says. “When we last tried to count up the different plants we have, we reached 500 before we gave up counting!” The current pond was added in 2007, with a gently sloping beach on one side for easy wildlife access. “There’s plenty of shelter from marginal plants such as Iris laevigata and marsh marigolds, as well as floating water hawthorn,” says Julia. The garden’s rich biodiversity means there are few problems with slugs and snails. “The frogs soon take care of them,” she says. “When you garden organically, wildlife will prey on your pests, so we like to support wildlife in turn by ensuring there’s always plenty in flower, all year round.” Late winter sees Daphne bholua come into flower, followed by snowdrops, spring tulips and daffodils, and once these have gone over, summer blooms emerge including insectfriendly agastache, lavender, nepeta and echinaceas. “We’ll plug any gaps with annuals such as zinnias, scabious, tithonia and cosmos, to complement late-summer perennials such as crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, Verbena bonariensis and penstemons.” In the front garden, Julia and Martyn have a greenhouse and small nursery area growing perennials for charity. “There’s also a new woodland bed under a large magnolia and vegetables and fruit including autumn raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, blackberries, cordon apple and pear trees. One of the downsides to having such a wildlife-rich garden is when you see a father blackbird feeding a youngster on the first raspberries of the season then watching as the youngster goes in to help himself!” But it’s clear Julia and Martyn hold no grudge against these hungry fledglings. “For us, gardening with nature is the only way,” says Julia. “It’s completely intrinsic. We grew up in the 1960s, reading the likes of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and witnessing the early environmental movement, so we’ve always gardened in a way that creates habitats for insects, birds and mammals. For us, it’s an absolute basic.”