How To Have a Beautiful Garden That Also Helps Wildlife Thrive

About the Author & Content Disclaimer

The advice in this post is based on 10+ years of hands-on experience testing seeds in our sandy Suffolk Garden.

While I love sharing my journey and the things I discover, please understand that I am not a certified professional in gardening or wildlife.  I ground my content by deep-diving into reliable books and expert resources, but please use my advice only as a guide for your specific garden.

I use and sell the same UK-sourced, wildlife-approved seeds in my own garden that you see throughout this site.  Find my proven seed varieties here.

If you notice any inaccuracies or have additional insights to share, please feel free to contact me via this website's contact forms.

The Wild-Cultivated Balance: How to Have a Beautiful Garden That Also Helps Wildlife Thrive

Understanding the Difference: Garden Types

The difference between a cultivated, wildlife-friendly, and a wild garden is primarily determined by how hands-on the human manager is in that environment.  Understanding these types will help you decide what level of involvement is right for you.

Cultivated Gardens

These gardens are designed primarily for human enjoyment, beauty, food production, or recreation.  They are often highly maintained and planned.

• Human Intervention: High.
• Practices:
• Fertiliser, herbicides, and pesticides are commonly used.
• Compost and topsoil are often brought into improve garden soil.
• Plants are cut back and kept tidy; weeds and wildflowers are removed.
• Grass is cut on a regular basis.
• Very little consideration is given to wildlife or the impact of chemicals and tidiness on the ecosystem.

Wildlife Friendly Gardens

These gardens are designed to attract and support wildlife while still allowing for aspects of traditional gardening and human recreation.  It's about find a balance.

• Human Intervention: Moderate.
• Practices:
• Herbicides and pesticides are not used. 
• May still use some fertiliser.
• No digging in vegetable patches (no-dig method).
• Plants are left to grow naturally, up to a certain degree.
• Grass is cut less often, or the no-mow May movement is followed.
• Includes wildflowers and uses homemade compost.

Moving to the Next level: Be aware that plants bought from garden centres may have been grown using chemicals, which transfer to your soil.  Buying from organic suppliers is a great way to avoid damaging the ecosystem you are trying to create.

Wild Gardens (Re-wilding)

Wild gardens are designed to mimic natural ecosystems and are managed with minimal human intervention (a lighter touch).  The goal is a self-sustaining ecosystem where the environment supports life naturally.

• Human Intervention: Low (only to mimic natural animal roles).
• Practices:
• No chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, artificial fertilisers).
• No commercial products (beehives, bird boxes, bird feeders).
• Retaining deadwood, fallen logs, and dead trees/plants to provide habitat and food.
• Embracing ant hills and moll hills.
• Jobs done are only those that grazing animals (cows, ponies, pigs) would naturally do if present (e.g., cutting grass once a year, or turning the soil once or twice).

A Note on Tidy: If you are interested in wilding, be aware that this may not be suitable for everyone, as it can lead to what neighbours might consider an untidy garden, leading to complaints.  Personally, I'm taking it slow so the neighbours can see the garden is going wild on purpose.

Simple Gardening tips for a Nature Friendly Garden

A beautiful garden can be a source of joy and relaxation for you and your family, and it can also be a haven for wildlife.  These simple tips will help you create that balance.

1.  Maximise Plant Variety and Layering

The best way to attract wildlife is to provide a variety of food sources and habitats from the ground up: trees, shrubs, and flowers.

Choosing Plants

• Native Plants: These are adapted to the local climate and soil and provide food, shelter, and nesting sites for a variety of native species.
• They have grown to accept the UK climate and are less likely to need pesticides or herbicides.
• Look for plants found in the wild in your area or check a native plant guide.

• Non-Native Plants: Our climate is changing, and some native plants may not survive.  Non-native species can be necessary, but choose carefully.
• Avoid Invasive Species: Invasive plants can quickly take over and displace native ones.
• Ensure the plant is adapted to the local climate and soil conditions.
• Do not plant non-native species in or near a nature reserve where they could harm native species.  - Example: Christina's American Prairie seed mix is designed to withstand drought and flooding, offering species similar to those lost from English grasslands.
• Cultivated vs.  Wild Flowers: Include both.  Cultivated flower can be more colourful and easier to care for, but wild flowers are often more beneficial to wildlife and need help spreading as they disappear from meadows.

Shrubs and Trees

• Shrubs: Provide essential food, shelter, and nesting sites.
• Birds are attracted to native shrubs with berries or fruit (food source) and those with thorns (protection from predators).
• Dense foliage provides a place for mammals to hide and raise young.
• Plant shrubs that flower at different times to provide a continuous food source.

• Trees: Provide a home for many different species, offering food, shelter, and nesting sites, even when the tree is dying.
• Wildlife will always prefer trees with flowers, fruits, nuts, and seeds.
• ip: Dwarf trees suit smaller gardens; larger trees are fine for football-pitch sized gardens or bigger.

Plants to Attract Specific Wildlife

Bees
Flowers: Hollyhocks, alliums, daisies, cornflowers, cosmos, geranium, salvias, scabious, dandelions, vipers bugloss, red clover.  Shrubs/Trees: Buddleia, ceanothus, cotoneaster, mahonia, fruit trees (all), blackthorn, sweet chestnut.

Honey Bees
Sunflower, comfrey, salix willow, catmint, hellebores, spring blossom, Michaelmas daisies, heathers, wallflowers, centaurea, red clover.

Bumblebees
Rosemary, borage, scabious, foxgloves, echinops, lavender, chives, single-flowered dahlias, marjoram, oregano, meadow cranesbill.

Butterflies
Feasting Nectar: Buddleia, honeysuckle, sedums, lavender, red valerian, Michaelmas daisies, verbena, wild marjoram, common knapweed, cornflower.  Egg-Laying: Nettles, ivy, holly, and long grass.

Caterpillars
Nasturtiums, nettles, hops, willows, blackthorn, oaks, comfrey, birds foot trefoil, and grasses.

Predatory Insects (Lacewings, Ladybirds, Hoverflies)
Dill, angelica, marigolds, calendula, cosmos, geraniums, nasturtiums, lavenders, parsley, and thyme.

Birds
Need cover for protection and nesting (deciduous hedges and small garden trees).  Will eat sunflower hearts and peanuts if provided.  Need water and long grass for food to hide in.

Hedgehogs
Long grass where their food sources (slugs, snails) can hide.  Yellow rattle, wild carrot, bird's-foot trefoil.

Bats
Borage, cornflower, corn marigold, evening primroses, night-scented stock, and wallflowers.

Leave Some Areas Wild

Wild areas provide essential places for wildlife to hide, raise young, and find food and shelter.

The Wild Meadow: To create a successful wildlife meadow or wildflower bed, simply throwing down seeds will not work.

• Preparation: Create a clean, fine seedbed.  Clear the ground of grasses and perennial weeds that would out-compete your wildflowers.
• Timing: May is the perfect time to sow wildflower seeds, though you can also sow them in Autumn.
• No Mulch: Seeds need light to germinate; do not add mulch to an area that has seeds.

3.  Use Water Features

Water features provide a place for wildlife to drink, bathe, and find food.

• Ponds: Ponds will attract far more wildlife than a simple water feature.  They should always have a shallow end so small creatures of all kinds can easily get in and out of the water.
• Bees: Bees require shallow water.  a Flat dish with pebbles in it gives them a safe place to sit while they drink.

Avoid Using Pesticides

Pesticides can harm wildlife and contaminate the soil and water.

• Use organic methods to control pests.
• An even better approach: once one insect or "beastie" arrives, another predator will soon follow to munch on it.  Once you have a balanced eco-system in your garden, you won't have to worry about who is living in it.
• Note: Flea and worm treatments for pets are pesticides and are likely transferred to the soil and the wildlife within it via animal waste.

Be Patient and Enjoy

It will take time for wildlife to fully adopt your garden.  Take your time, enjoy the process, and you will soon notice the increase in wildlife activities year on year.  After all, humans are also wildlife, and we also need a space where we can be comfortable and relaxed, so your wild area can include comfy seating to enjoy the plants and creatures you attract!