NATURGARTEN e.V.

Our garden is situated behind our house, in the suburbs of South London. We are about 11km from central London, and it is a further 6km in the other direction until you reach open countryside. The area where we live was originally developed as a suburb in the 1860s, on land that was previously open woodland. Our back garden is about 9m wide and 40m long. This is slightly larger than the typical back garden in this area, however all suburban houses in London, even the smallest ones, have gardens. Our garden is an established one with a lot of 'atmosphere', provided by many large old self-sown trees growing in the immediate area. Our neighbourhood feels as if it is slowly returning to the open woodland of former times, and most of the many types of insects and birds that we see in our garden are species of woodland or woodland-edge. I see the garden in ecological terms as an artificial woodland glade.

I need to explain at this point that the nearest British equivalent to a German Naturgarten is what we call a 'wildlife garden'. This is quite a broad concept, and embraces many different approaches to garden design and choice of plants. The factor unifying all 'wildlife gardens' is an intention to create gardens which are a haven for insects, birds, and other natural life. Some British gardeners believe that it is necessary to concentrate on planting native wild plants to achieve that aim, but others do not share this view at all. I have an open mind - I believe that wildlife gardening is like a big experiment.
There is in Britain a traditional approach to garden design, which we call the 'cottage garden' style, which was originally derived from the densely-planted village gardens of farm workers. This dense planting style copies the way that wild flowers grow crowded together in British hedgerows. It is easily adapted to wildlife gardening and most of our own garden follows this style. Perennial plants and shrubs are planted closely together with ground- cover plants such as Galium odoratum, Lysimachia nummularia, Fragaria vesca and Glechoma hederacea underneath them. Plants are allowed to grow into each other's space and support each other so that they do not need staking.

I originally became a wildlife gardener simply because I noticed that many birds and insects were already visiting our garden, and I wanted to see more of them. Because the garden was already well-established and had lots of character, I did not want to make drastic changes. So I have gradually let it evolve into a wildlife garden over several years. I have achieved this in two ways. Firstly by changing the way the garden is managed. I used to cut down dead stems and 'tidy up' in the autumn. Now I leave dead stems over winter to die down naturally as much as possible. Any cutting of dead stems which still needs to be done (because they have fallen across paths or are crowding out other smaller plants) is now done in March. This has made a big difference to our birds, who can be seen visiting the dead stems in winter looking for seeds or small insects to eat. I try to include as many logs and as much dead wood as possible in the garden. this is really important for beetles ands other invertebrates. Greater Stag Beetles (Lucanus cervus) are a local speciality and many London gardeners are familiar with this rare species. We see them every summer. Their larvae live in rotting wood, including old fences and rotting posts.
The second change to the way I manage the garden is trying to concentrate more and more on plants which are of value to wildlife. I tend to follow my personal observations about what is of value to wildlife, rather than strictly following what is written in books, because my personal experience does not always correspond with what I read in books. For example I have kept a number of 'exotic' plants which I had planned to replace, as on close observation I noticed that they were being used in some way by insects or birds. These include Crocosmia paniculata, from South Africa which is used both by Bumble bees (Bombus pascuorum), wasps, and and also by a kind of grasshopper(Conocephalus discolor) that lives among the leaves; Fuchsia magellanica, from South America which is popular with bumble bees (Bombus pascuorum) in autumn, when most native flowers have finished; Myrtus communis from Southern France is another favourite with Bumble bees in mid-summer; Symphytum X 'Hidcote Blue', a garden hybrid, which is a favourite flower of the solitary bee Anthophora; and the winter-flowering honeysuckle Lonicera X purpusii, another garden hybrid, which is very popular with early bumble bees and other early solitary bees from February onwards. Indeed entomologists recommend to gardeners that they should plant both Lonicera X purpusii, and winter-flowering Mahonias, as food for the bumble bees that venture out in the colder months in Southern England. Here I need to mention that our climate in Southern England is very different to that of Central Europe, and we have much milder winters with a lot of rain from the Atlantic Ocean. Some of our garden plants and grass keep growing throughout the winter. With recent climate change our winters have become even milder and it is not uncommon to see bumble bee queens in gardens in this area on mild days in the winter months.

Like all London gardeners, we also have wild urban foxes living in the garden. They are what we call a 'mixed blessing' - very attractive to look at as they are asleep in the sunshine, useful because they hunt rats, but they also tear and chew butyl pond liners, eat Stag Beetle larvae and they have also got rid of the hedgehogs that used to live in the area.

Furthermore I am also a great lover of native wild flowers and I incorporate them into the garden in various different ways, in the hope that I will inspire other city gardeners to do this. Some are planted in grass, some are planted amongst logs or stones, many are in flowerbeds among other perennials. One of my favourites is Centaurea scabiosa. I also grow a few biennial wildflowers, especially Echium vulgare and Daucus carota, both of which are very good for insects.
There are some interesting garden forms of some of our wild flowers, but care has to be taken in choosing them, as some of them have modified flowers that have lost their value as food for insects. However some just have interesting patterns or variations in their leaves, and they produce normal flowers which insects can enjoy. An example is the beautiful Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravens Wing' which is simply a brown-leaved form of a very common British wildflower. On our garden open days this is in fact the most popular plant with visitors. The purple-leaved form of Ranunculus ficaria, 'Brazen Hussey' is also beautiful. In our garden its shining purple-brown leaves look very good beside the green flowers of Helleborus viridis ssp. occidentalis in March and April.
I have a 'relaxed' gardening style but that does not mean leaving everything to grow of its own accord. We very definitely want a 'garden' and not a 'wilderness'. Although I have to keep Ranunculus repens under control, I encourage the beautiful Ranunculus acris which is not invasive and I let it grow wherever it appears, both in grass and in flowerbeds. Other wild flowers which I encourage to spread around the in the garden of their own accord are Primula acaulis, Viola odorata, Rumex acetosa, Hypericum tetrapterum, Origanum vulgare, and Silene dioica. These are all typical wildflowers of a British hedgerow. I am also encouraging Veronica spicata to spread around. This is very popular with bumblebees. It is a very rare British native plant and a protected species, so the strain I grow is of garden origin, but very similar to the wild kind. Erica cinerea is another of my favourites, a common wildflower on acid soils in southern England, and I have recently planted more of this.
I do regard a few opportunist invasive plants, such as Galium aparine, Aster novi-belgii and its hybrids, Calystegia sylvatica, Rubus fruticosus hybrids, Ranunculus repens, and Acer pseudoplatanus as 'weeds' and I carefully remove them by hand. Experience has taught me that all of these plants are invasive here and if I did not remove them, they would very quickly become dominant, and would soon take over the garden. Buddleja davidii is also invasive, but it is a bit of a paradox as it is so popular with butterflies. So I grow a few Buddlejas for the butterflies but I remove all the seedlings that spring up around the garden. My favourite Buddleja is in fact Buddleja X weyeriana 'Sungold', which flowers in late summer and autumn with orange-yellow flowers which are popular with bumble bees as well as butterflies. This one does not produce seeds, and is one of the best for wildlife gardens.

I do not usually dig the ground between plants, so that a natural soil cover of moss and decaying vegetation can build up, and the natural fauna and flora of the soil can develop. As a result, everything in our garden is very healthy and we have very few pests or diseases. I don't grow many annuals because they prefer open, disturbed soil in which to germinate and as I try to dig the soil as little as possible, we don't have many bare spaces. I also don't use gravel very much because in our rainy climate it tends to be invaded by grass and moss and turn into a lawn of its own accord! I have tried to create a garden in harmony with the climate and character of the local area.

Our latest project is to convert part of our lawn into a wildflower meadow, but with as little effort as possible. We are keeping part of the lawn as fairly short, mown grass because I share the view that in a garden situation long grass usually looks best if it is contrasted with strips or paths of mown grass. We are trying to set an example that can be followed by other city gardeners. We have removed the turf from part of our lawn, have covered it in sand, and have sown a mixture of wild grasses and wildflower seed, appropriate to a damp, acid soil. We see this as a long-term experiment and we eagerly await the outcome!

In common with thousands of other private gardens in Britain we open to the public on a few Sundays in the summer. Visiting private gardens on a Sunday afternoon to see how other gardeners do things and to have a cup of tea is a popular activity and we have many visitors. The entrance fee supports local charities. We also open by appointment. Details of latest opening times are given (in English) on our website at www.foxleas.com. Fellow-members of Naturgarten eV are most welcome to visit us at any time that you happen to be in London.