Creating a Nature Garden

There’s a much greater awareness now of how important plants are for the ecology of the planet and keeping us alive. However, it’s perhaps less known just how intricately interwoven plants are to the ecology and vital to the lifecycle of the various insects, butterflies and moths for feeding, 0breeding and hiding. Part and parcel to all of this the native plants to an area. Native plants are a hidden force in our gardens and countryside and often vital to the local ecology.

The first move towards helping native fauna is just by growing something or helping an area to become more natural and native plants are not necessarily boring to look at either! You could consider doing anything from growing something in a pot or two to converting part of a garden (if you are fortunate to have one) like a border or two or even your lawn (see the Natural History Museum’s advice below on how to convert your lawn).

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-to-grow-a-better-lawn-for-wildlife.html

It all depends on how your fancy takes you, but when planning whatever area you want to become the wildlife, if it matters to you (or who owns the land) it will come to look a little unkempt over time. But that’s more to the advantage of the local fauna which will prefer it that way and of course, you won’t need to spend much time looking after the area. One of the main things is leaving areas undisturbed. All the main work goes into setting up the area so it can establish over time. So consider whether you want it all to grow from seed or use ready grown plants.

To get the best out of the wildlife area it’s important not only to choose plants that suit the growing conditions, i.e. is the area sunny, shady or partial shade, whether the soil is free draining or apt to get waterlogged, sandy, alkaline or acidic, near water, etc, as they just won’t grow well or at all. But it’s also useful to select plants that are native to the area.

There is a much greater range of suppliers of natural and native plants nowadays, but if you are in the UK and looking for ready grown plants you might like to consider.

https://www.wildflower.co.uk/

If you are looking to find which native plants are food and nectar sources for which butterflies and moths you might find the following table useful.