Wildlife gardening 101
What does wildlife gardening really mean? Our nature-friendly gardening guru Helen Bostock answers some of the most commonly-asked questions
I hear British wildlife is under threat. Is this true?
Yes. There have been widespread losses in biodiversity across the UK, especially in the last couple of centuries as pressures from industrialisation have taken their toll. The 2019 State of Nature report, which assesses the trends and state of wildlife from 1970 to the present day concludes ‘There has been no let-up in the net loss of nature in the UK.’ Some of the drivers of these declines are extensive habitat loss and fragmentation, land management changes in the wider countryside leading for example to wildflower and hedgerow loss, pesticide use, wildlife persecution and climate change.
Against this backdrop there is clear evidence that gardens play a positive role for our beleaguered wildlife. They offer a home for many species, especially when managed carefully. Their connectivity means they also act as corridors for nature, allowing wildlife to move from one site to the next. And there are signs that some species are doing well in gardens, counterbalancing declines in the wider countryside thanks to the combined efforts of individual gardeners and communities.
I’d like to do more for wildlife in my garden. Where do I start?
Gardening for wildlife is easy! Just putting some plants into a plot and encouraging them to grow is enough to start bringing wildlife onto your doorstep. For great ideas and tips on making your garden even better for wildlife, check out our Gardening for wildlife page.
Pots and containers form wildlife habitats; sheltering under them, in them or being attracted to the plants they hold
You could go a step further and create a log pile for wildlife to occupy all the nooks and crannies
You can also sign up for our Wild About Gardens monthly enewsletter (scroll to the bottom of the page) and download our handy wildlife booklets.
What is meant by ‘garden ecosystem’ and ‘food web’?
Living things don't exist in isolation. They work together in a community and also respond to their environment. This is what is meant by the term 'ecosystem'. It would be right to say that all ecosystems are an interdependent and dynamic system of living organisms interacting with the physical environment.
There are many different kinds of ecosystem; forest ecosystems, marine ecosystems, etc. Gardens may be man-made but they are nevertheless a type of ecosystem and an important one too. By their very nature they are extremely variable, with a diversity of plants that can surpass that of ‘natural’ ecosystems. Combined with resources such as ponds and
Gardens provide food and a home for thousands of creatures throughout their lifecycles, and this wildlife is vital to a healthy and vibrant ‘living’ garden. A healthy ecosystem can perform various functions that benefit humans and these are referred to as 'ecosystem services'. Some examples include reducing flood risk, reducing air pollution and buffering us from weather extremes.
Many plants, such as this cotoneaster, are useful for both people and wildlife
'Food webs' underpin life on earth – including human life!
A food web is the interplay of different food chains, each made up of a sequence of ‘what eats what’. An example of a simple food chain is nasturtium-blackfly-ladybird-swallow, where each link in the chain eats the one before it. But of course, there are many other things which for instance eat blackfly, which takes us into other food chains, hence the concept of a bigger ‘food web’.
Sometimes species are grouped together by how they feed into what are called ‘functional groups’. There are four primary groups; herbivores (these eat living plants), predators (these eat other creatures), detritivores (these feed on decomposing material, of plant or animal origin; animals that eat fungi and algal growths are often included in this group) and omnivores (these feed on both plants and animals). In a garden with a healthy ecosystem, all of these groups will be well represented.
To enjoy sharing our gardens with wildlife further up the food chain, such as hedgehogs and robins, it’s important to remember that they need a plentiful supply of beetles, caterpillars, earthworms, etc which in turn need even more plants and other smaller invertebrates to sustain them!
Should I start to view ‘pests’ and ‘weeds’ differently if I want to garden for wildlife?
Aphids are an important part of garden ecosystems: in a wildlife-friendly garden something will arrive to eat them sooner or later
Wildlife gardening is still about managing your garden so it might mean, for instance, that you decide to tolerate or even encourage dandelions in a lawn where they are an important early source of nectar and pollen for insects, but still pull them up in the middle of a vegetable bed where you’d want to plant other things. Or leave alone a burgeoning colony of aphids on the roses so they can become the next meal for a family of blue tits living in your birdbox, but control an attack of greenfly on your vulnerable greenhouse seedlings.
Let’s look briefly at what we mean by ‘pest’ and ‘weed’ in light of the living garden
The boundary between 'weed' and 'wildflower' depends only on your point of view – it's all the same to wildlife!
A ‘weed’ is a term used to describe a plant that is growing where a gardener doesn’t want it to grow – often referred to as “a plant in the wrong place”. But it can be a bit more than that, being also used to refer to plants that have strongly competitive or invasive habits meaning they reduce the number of other plants able to grow in that spot if not controlled.
So whether we view a plant as a weed is really dependent on whether it is helping enrich the garden in some way or whether it is actually becoming a problem, to the extent of reducing the garden’s diversity. If you need to get a particular plant in check, start by considering methods that don’t resort to using weedkillers.
Do I need to have a wild-looking garden to garden for wildlife?
No. Although it is worthwhile having some less disturbed areas in a garden and plenty of cover, your garden style is up to you. Offering wildlife a diverse range of plants and creating a range of habitats is the key to great wildlife gardening, rather than letting your garden just go wild or become unkempt.
If you would, however, like to dabble with the concept of ‘rewilding’ – a term normally applied to much bigger landscapes than a garden – then have a read of our 'Rewild your garden' inspiration article on this topic.
Do I need to plant only British native plants if I want to support wildlife?
No. Research undertaken at the RHS and supported by the Wildlife Gardening Forum has demonstrated that non-native plants (i.e. plants not originating from Britain) play a positive role when it comes to supporting wildlife in gardens. While it is important to choose a strong proportion of British native plants for your planting scheme, there is no requirement to plant native-only.
Discover more about the Plants for Bugs research and take-home messages for gardeners.
Gardens may be man-made but they are nevertheless a type of ecosystem and an important one too
Native and non-native plants for ground-active invertebrates
Native and non-native plants for plant-dwelling invertebrates
Native and non-native plants for pollinators
