Re-wilding a Garden with Liz Fielding

After the success of a re-wilding garden at the hugely influential Chelsea Flower Show last year, it's been a huge topic this year. There were at least three gardens at the show this year where "weeds" were on display and I've heard that there are beautifully presented potted dandelions on sale for £30.

That is frankly, ridiculous, but they are beautiful – although they're going to need constant deadheading!

In the meantime, several well-known gardeners have spoken out against this trend, including Monty Don and Alan Titchmarsh.

Re-wilding is a very good thing if you've got hundreds of acres to play with. In a small garden, you're likely to end up with a patch full of nettles. Great for the butterflies, but not exactly people friendly. And the definition of a garden is a place that cultivated, for food or for pleasure.

But you can still do a lot for wildlife.

I garden in the south of England, so my choices are probably very different from many of you but one of the first things I did when I first moved into my apartment was to plant a Hawthorn – a birthday gift from my daughter.

I cut out the growing tip so that it would branch sideways rather than shooting skywards. In May it was covered in white blossom which is great for the pollinators and in the autumn there will be berries for the birds.

I also found a thornless pyracantha at my local garden centre, which does the same thing.

Herb Robert

And this year, instead of yanking out the Herb Robert, a wild-flower (part of the geranium family) that regularly pops up in my border, I've let it be. It has small pink flowers that the pollinators love and while they are insistent, they are not invasive. 

I do have buttercups lurking among the dense planting and I will be having a go at the roots, although short of applying something toxic (not happening) I will never be able to eradicate it. The odd bright yellow flower popping up in the border is always welcome.

And recently, visiting Standen, our local arts and crafts National Trust property, I noticed that they have left swathes of grass uncut. Filled with buttercups and daisies, it looked gorgeous.

I have a courtyard garden, so there's no grass although the weeds and the self-set seeds would fill every crack in the paving if left to themselves. 

Forget the toxic weedkiller all over the television adverts at the moment. A kettle of boiling water will take care of them.

Wild Garlic

During the mid-season, between spring and summer, the wild garlic and snow-drop anemones have been lovely. The creeping phlox gave me a rush of colour but then we were hit with a heatwave and, with a hosepipe ban, the flowers shrivelled, although these tough plants have survived unscathed. A really useful evergreen plant as the climate gets hotter.

 The trailing rosemary doesn't give a hoot for the heat and gave the bees a treat for several months.

Green Wall

I am creating a green wall (at least in summer) with the help of some large pots. There's wisteria, bamboo, a hazel tree and last year I added roses. Small, semi-double varieties which are so much easier for the bees than the heavily petalled varieties. 

I've also planted five new salvias – the gorgeous purple one that bloomed until December last year sadly didn't survive the winter although my pelargoniums – now too large to bring inside – survived in a sheltered spot and are now flowering in glorious day-glo pink on my doorstep.

 One of the new salvias (Salvia "Neon") has leaves that smell exactly like mint. Gorgeous. I don't have flowers yet, but this is what it will look like.

My petunias, replacing the spring bulbs and winter flowering pansies, are beginning to get into their stride, but I'm stocking up on perennials that I won't have to keep replanting.

Petunias

One favourite that I ordered in five colours this year is erysimum – the perennial wallflower. The fancier ones tend to be less hardy than the bog-standard purple – although none of them are long-lived - and I'll be taking cuttings to ensure I don't lose them.

And the other thing I've done this spring for the wildlife is create a very small pond in a half barrel tub to which I added some water plants. Fingers crossed, it will prove another attraction for wildlife and help the birds through the very hot spells that are becoming more common.

I've also given up a corner of the border, now piled up with old timber, for a bug hotel. It's looking untidy at the moment but I'll grow a clematis over it, which will add shelter and the flower will be a food source in the spring. 

And the really lovely news is that I had bluetits raising chicks in my nest box for the first time this year. 

So, while I'm not letting nature take its course, not "wilding", my little courtyard is a garden where I can sit and eat my breakfast on a sunny morning, surrounded by the flowers I love. A place where wildlife has a space and is very welcome.

Liz Fieding 

Liz Fielding met her husband when they were both working in Zambia and were keen members of the Lusaka Theatre Club. He was playing John de Stogumber in St Joan, and she was the pageboy to the Earl of Warwick. He swore it was the purple tights that got him.

 

Years spent in Africa and the Middle East provided the background to many of Liz's romances. Her first, An Image of You, was set in Kenya, in a place where they had spent many happy weekends on safari. It was plucked from the slush pile because the feisty feminist heroine made her editor laugh. Emotion touched with humour has been the hallmark of her work ever since.

 

After writing 70 books for Harlequin Mills and Boon, Liz has now turned to crime, signing with Joffe Books for three "Maybridge Mysteries", the first of which, Murder Among the Roses, is published on 18th April.

 

 Liz Fielding on the web:

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Murder Amongst the Roses, the first Maybridge Mysteries cozy crime, is published on 18 April 2023 by Joffe Books.

MEET ABBY FINCH. SHE’S THE BUSY MUM OF THREE, AN EXPERT GARDENER AND THE STAR OF YOUR NEW FAVOURITE COZY MURDER MYSTERY.

In the peaceful Cotswolds village of Maybridge, you wouldn’t expect to find a dead body in the rose garden. And certainly not two.

Abby is horrified to discover the bones of a baby buried under a rose bush. It’s in the garden of her soon-to-be ex-husband Howard’s family home.

She immediately calls the police. But she can’t get hold of Howard. He’s off on a jolly with the woman he’s got pregnant.

And then, just two days later, Abby finds Howard himself.
Lying dead in the very same rose garden.
Throat slashed with her own garden spade.

Now Abby is the prime suspect . . .

Fans of Faith Martin, Jane Adams, Frances Evesham, M.C. Beaton, Clare Chase or Jeanne M. Dams will love this addictive cozy mystery!

MEET THE DETECTIVE
Brilliant gardener and the busy mum of three, Abby Finch’s dreams of winning gold at Chelsea Flower Show were put on hold by an unplanned pregnancy and marriage. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. These days she’s kept on her toes looking by her beloved family, running her own business and dealing with her imminent divorce. In an effort to keep things cordial, she’s allowed her ex to bully her into restoring the garden of his family home. Thankfully she’s surrounded herself with a great group of friends to lean on.

THE SETTING
Pretty Maybridge is a charming village set in the sheep-dotted Cotswolds hills, with a long history stretching back to Tudor times. It’s the type of place where everyone knows each other, but there's a wonderful bookshop on the corner of the bridge, a popular riverside café and a bustling market at Christmastime. And with Bristol nearby and a big supermarket round the corner.

Buy on:

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