Formal Gardening for Wildlife

The RHS Wisley Garden showcases a blend of formality and relaxed modern cottage-style planting in order display the creative ways that wildlife can be encouraged into the most formal of gardens. With the rise in demand for wildlife friendly gardening, this garden demonstrates how best to incorporate pollinator-centred choices into a formal ornamental space.

The design incorporates a number of plant and material choices that can support wildlife throughout the varied stages of their lifecycles. The warm tones of the day-pollinator beds not only encourage bees, but also butterflies and beetles through hot colours, block planting and floriferous bursts. The cooler tones and scented highlights of the night-pollinator beds encourages moths and their caterpillars with evening flowering plants and rich foliage.

The symmetrical layout centres on a standout ‘living sculpture’ of succulents and dried flowers trailing down a stone fountain. Designed to start a conversation around the benefits of leaving stems and flowers uncut throughout autumn, we hope to promote a more relaxed approach to the annual autumn cutback. Aquatic containers flank the outer edges of the space, encouraging creative thinking around container planting. Still water supports numerous animals throughout their lifecycles and we hope to show that room for wildlife can be made in even the most ordered of spaces.

Other standout features will include handmade ‘bug hotel’ pot stands, mixed lawn pathways and woven willow fences to demonstrate the benefits of incorporating natural materials into the clean finish of formal spaces. The topiary in pots, traditional features in formal gardens, are donated by Paul Boosey of County Park Nursery, who regularly collaborate with RHS Wisley with the clipping of the Jellicoe Canal shores hedges at the garden. Overall, as the RHS continues to promote sustainable gardening practices, we hope to celebrate the role of formal gardening in supporting biodiversity and ecology in the UK.

With thanks to our generous fountain donor, Haddonstone Ltd

Dried flowers supplied by Essentially Hops