Flower Border Habitats

My own way of having a wild yet good-tolook at garden is to have just a few paths running between large borders. If you have neat path lines and clipped grass edges, the eye is drawn to those, giving an impression of tidiness. I thoroughly weed my flower borders in early spring and give them a deep mulch so that I can then leave them largely undisturbed. The mulch, and the way that I grow plants close together, suppresses weeds and the great variety of plant shapes and heights provides homes for insects, mammals and birds. Last year a partridge raised a brood of 12 chicks in the middle of a border!

The gravel garden also minimises maintenance and is perfect for sun-loving herbs and silver foliage plants. Here too is a variety of heights from annual poppies, ornamental grasses, bulbs, lavenders and scented plants. Wildlife flourishes where there’s a range of habitats and the garden can be a scaleddown version with trees, shrubs, perennials and ground cover providing cover on different levels.