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The Wildlife Garden

Drink in the wonders of wildlife among flowerbeds and borders buzzing with life, then introduce bug-friendly plants to your own green space

Good to know...

  • Wisley firsts This is the first wildlife garden at RHS Wisley and the first to have an extensive aquatic planting scheme
  • Bulbs An astonishing 120,000 bulbs were planted in the making of the Wildlife Garden
  • Tree tops Almost 200 trees have been planted in the garden which is just under one acre in size
Swathes of planting featuring insect-friendly plants in the Wildlife Garden

Inspired by a bee

RHS Wisley’s first-ever dedicated wildlife garden aims to encourage visitors to put nature at the heart of their own gardens. 

Designer Ann-Marie Powell, an RHS Chelsea Gold medal winner, thought long and hard about the design brief and stumbled across her inspiration when she saw the shape of a bee’s wing. The space is divided up into segments, like a wing, and visitors can easily associate each segment with their own garden.

This is a garden, not a nature reserve, but demonstrates how nature and gardens are inextricably linked.
The low bridge allows visitors to get close to the water

A garden flowing with ideas

Water is a vital element in any wildlife garden and so dominating this space are two large pools with spectacular aquatic and marginal planting. 

These provide for stunning views from either waterside or from the centre of the low bridge that skims the water surface.  Designer Ann-Marie said her dream for this garden is to witness a grass snake “whipping across the water”.

This is the first major aquatic planting scheme at RHS Wisley and includes stunning swathes of Iris versicolor and Pontederia cordata along the margins perfectly complemented by spikes of Stratiotes aloides and Orontium aquaticum in the deeper water.

Silent Space

Silent Space at Wisley is in an area known as the Wildwood, showcasing a naturalised woodland area filled with native and near-native plants and their cultivars. This space in a clearing just off the lower path between the Wellbeing Garden and Wildlife Garden at RHS Hilltop, and the ornamental woodland of Battleston Hill. A few log stools are surrounded by a dead hedge, with a backdrop of woodland shrubs and evergreens, giving an atmosphere of seclusion and retreat.
Sculptures provide the perfect haven for wildlife

A home for all bugs

Much of the planting in the Wildlife Garden has been deliberately picked to be particularly attractive to wildlife and provide a haven for insects.

Visitors will be able to wander through areas of flowering hedges, past swathes of plants selected from our Plants for Pollinators list, before resting awhile by the pond on the rough cut lawn.

At the heart of the garden stands a chestnut and willow sculpture by Tom Hare which provides an enormous habitat, filled with pine cones, twigs and anything else that might make a cosy home to all manner of insects.

Tom has also designed a bird hide which will provide a perfect spot to take in the view of all the flora and fauna. 
Insect friendly features will make the garden thrum with the noise of wildlife

Let your inspiration take off

A mini model garden will provide further inspiration for visitors to recreate wildlife friendly features at home and will include a shed with a living roof and a tiny pond.

Dotted around the space are attractive habitat features such as contemporary log piles, bee nesting tubes, deliberately decaying trees and a compost heap.

Educational features throughout the Wildlife Garden, such as wildlife rubbing discs, will stimulate and entertain visitors of all ages.
Work to create the three gardens is nearing completion

Connecting crops with wildlife

Without insect pollinators we would not be able to grow many of our favourite fruits and vegetables and with that in mind the Wildlife Garden and World Food Garden are linked metaphorically and physically with a large planted hill surrounding the RHS Hilltop building.

As visitors make their way along this bund towards the World Food Garden, edibles are mixed in amongst the planting scheme and the garden moves seamlessly from a wildlife one to a kitchen garden.

The large mound, which rises about 2m above the gardens below, is the ideal place to soak up the wonder of wildlife and take in the views across the three new areas.

“Insects and other wildlife like to find a source of food and then ‘bounce’ on to the next one. We hope to inspire people to create islands of biodiversity in their own gardens. All these small acts come together to make a big difference.”

Ann-Marie Powell

“Insects and other wildlife like to find a source of food and then ‘bounce’ on to the next one. We hope to inspire people to create islands of biodiversity in their own gardens. All these small acts come together to make a big difference.”

Ann-Marie Powell

Plants in this section

National Lottery Heritage Fund

The National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded £4 million to support the transformation at RHS Wisley, with more than half going towards RHS Hilltop and the surrounding gardens. This grant will also help fund inspirational activity programmes to further knowledge and skills, and widen engagement.

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.