The boundaries between different habitats are often very rich in wildlife, due to the variety of plants and microclimates you get in these places. By making these boundaries larger in gardens we can increase biodiversity. One way of doing this is to allow one habitat to slowly merge into the next. You could think in terms of ‘layers’ in your garden rather than defined boundaries. Generally the more layers, the more species that will come flocking into your space.
In woodlands, for example, lots of the wildlife activity takes place at the woodland edge where greater availability of light supports a more diverse range of plants. This can easily be translated into garden proportions. A few metres are enough to establish the sort of dynamic habitat that will encourage butterflies and birds to feed, and hedgehogs and toads to forage amongst the leaf litter.
- Create a woodland edge with trees at the back, followed by shrubs such as dog rose and dogwoods, and finally herbaceous plants and bulbs. The height will increase from front to back allowing as much light in as possible. If space is an issue, use smaller tree species such as rowan, holly, crab apple and hawthorn.
- If a woodland edge isn’t to your taste, you could adapt your lawn area in a similar way. Create this layer effect by having shorter grass merging into longer grass, then low growing plants and taller herbs, with shrubs in your borders merging through to wall-climbing species.
- Give ponds undulating and gently sloped sides. The soft edges should merge into the deep areas of the pond, allowing vegetation cover to move from marginal through to floating and finally submerged planting.