Eleanor Clarke
GARDEN DESIGN
Tips for a Pretty (and Wildlife-Friendly) Winter Garden
We’re all so much more environmentally aware these days, and that’s a great thing. Back in the day (and we’re talking 10 years ago at most), come October, gardeners on TV and in the magazines would start talking about ‘putting the garden to bed’. As if our outdoor spaces somehow magically ceased to exist between the months of November and March, or at least went into a period of deep hibernation.
But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Many garden plants conserve energy over winter by dropping leaves and retreating underground until spring, but there’s still plenty of activity happening under and above ground – whether that’s from evergreen plants, insects, birds or other larger mammals. And so many of these creatures benefit from the cover and sustenance of the dried stems, seedheads and fallen leaves that a tidy gardener might cut down and clear away. Winter is the toughest time for wildlife, so let’s not make it any harder for them.
Take it easy
Fortunately, what’s good for wildlife is also good for the gardener, as all we really need to do is be a bit lazier, or should we say more laissez-faire? And we’re always on board with a bit of shirking (it means more time with friends or putting our feet up and dreaming of spring).
So when you’re cutting back faded perennials in your borders and flowerbeds, stop and think for a minute before deciding on what should stay and go. If it’s brown, floppy and ugly, pull it out and put it on the compost heap (old iris leaves for example or the soggy, frosted leaves of tender annuals). But keep plants with hollow stems like dill, phlomis and fennel, as all kinds of garden-friendly insects will overwinter there.
Seeds for the birds, loveliness for you
Anything with seedheads should cause you stop and think too. Again, dill, phlomis and fennel, but also alliums, teasel, honesty, sea hollies and echinops. And let’s not forget the grasses – those wafty calamagrostis and miscanthus have so much to offer over winter and look gorgeous silvered with frost. Leave all of these to cut back in spring, once the birds have finished snacking and the insects hibernating.
Photo – Anastasia Pixner
Leave those leaves!
Worth a mention too are fallen leaves. Do rake them up from paths and lawns, where they can cause a slippery mess and smother your grass. You can make leaf mould with them by popping them in a black plastic bag, punching in a few holes and leaving them in the shed or somewhere out of the way. In a year or so the leaves will have broken down to lovely crumbly compost that’s great for mulching and feeding borders and pots. Or rake them into a corner under a hedge where they could become home to overwintering wildlife. Any leaves that fall in your borders are just fine left to rot down naturally, as they would in nature, returning their goodness to the soil.
So here’s to a little less action in the garden, and a whole lot more wildlife. Happy non-gardening!
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OUTDOOR PLANTS
