Bridging conventional gardens with aesthetic and useful herbaceous weeds merges wild beauty with tamed functionality, creating a harmonious balance. 

Traditionally, gardens valued ornamental plants and manicured lawns, keeping wild native plants well out of the way. However, bringing these plants internationally in amongst hybrids creates a more biodiverse and resilient garden. Incorporating species such as dandelions, chicory, yarrow, fennel, and teasel adds visual beauty, diversity, and architectural structure while attracting wildlife. These plants require minimal care, making them ideal for busy lives & sustainable gardening practices.

When you work with nature, rather than against it, you have an ecosystem on your side, forming a foundation to build upon. Teasel and fennel, for example, provide food for birds, shelter for insects, and vertical interest as ornamental plants. Herbs like valerian and yarrow are both aesthetically pleasing and excellent for pollination, as well as having medicinal uses. Yarrow, with its deep roots, supports beneficial insects and improves soil health. Allowing more diversity in lawns with clover and dandelions enhances the garden environment. Clover fixes nitrogen in the soil, improving fertility, while dandelions offer an additional opportunity to make more interesting salads and Chamomile provides soothing teas and medicinal benefits, creating an insect-rich habitat that promotes pollination and contributes to a flourishing garden.

There are many more plants with medicinal, culinary, and diverse contributions to the garden. If this is not enough to spark interest, consider that these plants have spent millennia becoming perfect for their environment, making your job as a gardener easier while supporting the ecosystem. Integrating herbaceous weeds into conventional gardens requires a shift in perception. Recognizing their value beyond being nuisances, gardeners can blend these plants seamlessly into landscapes. This approach enhances aesthetic and functional diversity, promoting environmental sustainability and creating spaces that are both beautiful and beneficial to the ecosystem.

For further information about Landscaping /installation and integrating the wild into your space, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Call Alex on 07421 085 788.

​contribution by Alice Rollinson, thanks Alice

The Importance of Landscaping for a Peaceful Garden

Introduction:

One of the best ways to unwind and de-stress from the day-to-day hustle is by spending some quality time in the garden. Not only is it great for your mental health, but it's also a fantastic way to relax and surround yourself with nature. To enhance these benefits and create a tranquil environment, it's essential to invest in the right landscaping. In this blog post, we'll be discussing why landscaping can create peace in the garden!

Encourages relaxation

A garden filled with overgrown grass and scattered weeds doesn't scream "relaxation zone!" The right landscaping can transform your garden into a peaceful sanctuary that's perfect for unwinding. Incorporating elements like a water feature, lights, and pathways can add a relaxing and welcoming vibe to your garden and create a calm environment.

Reduces stress

Landscaping can significantly reduce stress by allowing you to focus on something other than the daily pressures of work and other commitments. Besides adding visual interest, spending time in your garden, whether it's planting, pruning, or just sitting in it, can be therapeutic and help you calm down after a long day.

Increases positive mental health

Studies have shown the positive impact of spending time in nature on mental health. By bringing nature to your backyard, you are creating a relaxing and serene space to recharge. This can boost your mood and provide the perfect escape from the stress of life. Additionally, landscaping and taking care of plants can provide a sense of accomplishment that can lead to feelings of joy, peace, and satisfaction.

Enhances your outdoor space

Landscaping your garden can transform it into an inviting and beautiful space that you want to spend time in. The right landscaping can add color, texture, and visual appeal that will make your outdoor space more inviting and a haven for relaxation. With the right design, you can create a pleasing environment that will make it very hard to leave!

Provides a safe haven

Lastly, having well-designed landscapes can provide a safe haven in your garden for birds and other wildlife. A peaceful garden with an abundance of blooming flowers, fruits, and trees can be a nourishing habitat for birds, hummingbirds, and bees. This wildlife provides an active and calming environment that is both therapeutic and peaceful.

Conclusion:

When we think of creating a relaxing space, we often think of indoors; however, the outdoors should not be left behind. By investing in the right landscaping, you can make your garden equally tranquil, pleasing, and an escape haven for all kinds of relaxation. Make your garden your sanctuary by investing in a well-designed space, and watch yourself and nature thrive.

Ground cover plants are extremely beneficial in suppressing weed growth within the garden beds and amongst the ornamental plants. However, utility does not have to be the primary function, ground cover plants are aesthetically beneficial too, with many being highly decorative in their own right. A variety of colours and textures are to be found and once established most weed seedlings that attempt to grow will be successfully smothered by the ground cover canopy, depriving them of light and competing with them for water.

Ground cover plants also have great benefits with regards to the garden location and site topography.
Where steep slopes exist and are subject to erosion, plants with a low spreading habit and vigorous root growth will provide stability to the soil, particularly after heavy rainfalls. The following are recommended:

Juniperus squamata – Blue Carpet.

Cotoneaster dammeri – Bear Berry.

Hypericum calycinum – Rose of Sharon.

A wildlife garden can benefit too with the addition of ground cover to attract the bees and butterflies, such as:

Thymus praecox – creeping thyme.

Lotus corniculatus – bird’s foot trefoil.

In dry locations and to inhibit evaporation from soil and to eliminate the use of a top surface mulch, ground cover plants should not be underestimated. A dense planting of evergreens will assist in shading the soil, keeping it cool and natural leaf decomposition will act as the mulch.
The following plants are suggested: 

Rosmarinus – rosemary

Lavandula – lavender

Cistus skanbergii – dwarf pink rockrose.

Cistus Corbariensis – hybrid rockrose.

Ground cover plants can provide colour to areas of shade, the following are examples:

Bergenia – Ballawley, elephants ears.

Euonymus fortunei – spindle emerald/gold.

Symphytum x uplandicum ‘Variegatum’

When selecting ground cover plants it is best to choose the ones of vigorous growth and that will cover their allotted space in a short duration of time. It is important that they are perennial, either evergreen all year round or emerging rapidly in spring before the unwanted weeds have a chance to set seed.

Ground cover plants are not necessarily confined to low growing, but taller shrubs of medium height can also be used to
suppress weeds beneath their own canopy and below tree canopies too, such as:

Fatsia japonica - ‘Variegata’

Cotoneaster conspicuss – Tibetan.

Prunus lauroceraus - ‘OttoLuyken’
 
There are numerous ornamental ground cover plants available that can provide great colour and interest to the garden and when preparing to plant, ensure that the ground is weed free prior to planting and take heed of the recommended spacing, as this can vary from plant to plant.

This year and the years to follow, why not reduce the weeding time and bring additional benefits to the garden by incorporating a variety of ground cover plants.