Wild garden

A wild garden ( wild garden or wildlife garden in English, Naturgarten or naturnaher Garten in German, wilde tuin in Dutch) is a Jardin in which the safeguard of the Nature plays a big role. It reproduces, on its scale, of the local natural environments (biotopes) in order to offer a refuge to the wild life, as well Végétal E as Animal E. Its principal characteristic is a strong presence of plants Indigène S, which are used as support with the wildlife. A wild garden thus has a vocation of natural refuge, that it is created of all parts or that one simply let the species be established itself. Like any garden, it is the subject nevertheless of a management, since, on the one hand, there must remain attractive for the gardener and its family (aspects entertaining and esthetics) and that, on the other hand, the plants best adapted to the situation of the garden are likely all to invade if their expansion is not so much is controlled little. The wild gardens are sometimes qualified “natural gardens”, like does it for example the association Ponema (French association which promotes the use of wild species in the gardens). However, this term is rather vague and can also be employed like synonym of “ecological” or “biological” garden (or to indicate a “free” garden of aspect simply). These various terms are recut and are related to the same philosophy of the Jardinage, more respectful in the broad sense of the Environnement; name “garden wild” however stresses the place granted to the indigenous plant species and the creation of natural environments, in order to contribute to the safeguard of the regional Biodiversité. “Natural Garden allowed” is a good synonym.

Philosophy

The concept of “wild garden” goes back to the XIXe century and is allotted to the Irish gardener William Robinson (1838-1935). This one breaks with the conformism of the gardens of the time and promotes a form of gardening which grants a place to the rustic flowers and lets them be naturalized instead of controlling them strictly. The garden thus acquires a more natural character, more romantic. The preoccupation with a protection of nature not being yet to the day order, the species present in this type of garden were then as well exotic as indigenous. Today, one would rather qualify these gardens of “natural gardens” or “natural aspect”.

The dimension of natural refuge which was grafted on the concept of W. Robinson emanates from the report that reserved space with the wild life is reduced more and more. Under the pressure of the human activities, the natural Biotope S are destroyed or modified. In the spirit of many people, nature has her place - and finds it - apart from the residential areas. However, in the areas of the sphere with strong demographic density, it is not often any more the case. The rural areas, forest and coastal at this point were modified for the satisfaction of the human needs that the qualifier of “naturalness” or “semi-natural” cannot to any more be them applied. Too much often, the forest is considered only under the economic angle and is composed of the number limited of gasolines, exotics in worst of the cases (p.ex. spruce in Belgium, Eucalyptus in Mediterranean region); the intensive agriculture transforms the landscape into gigantic sprinkled monocultures of pesticides and manure; wetlands, waste lands, dunes, moors, banks of rivers, pieces of untamed nature are destroyed or modified to support “profitable” activities (“extensive” habitat, tourism, agriculture, river navigation, water collecting for the cities and the fields, etc). The need for creating natural reserves, strictly protected, testifies some.

However, the surface of these reserves is well too reduced to compensate for the loss of space for the wild life. Moreover, they are distant from/to each other, which reduces the possibilities of dispersion of the populations vegetable and animal and, by there, the possibilities of genetic Brassage. Without this one, the species, in particular animal, are likely to degenerate. From where the idea to leave a place to nature in green zones strictly related to a human use but not subjected to requirements of productivity, namely the deprived Parc S and public gardens and, which can represent a considerable surface of the residential areas. This philosophy can also apply to the berms of highways, edges of ways and small elements of urban greenery, like the roundabouts. One thus constitutes mini-reserves and corridors for the displacement and the dissemination of the species, which come to supplement the network formed by the slopes of railroad and the waste grounds.

Mediums

To offer a space diversified to the wild life, a wild garden can present various types of mediums accommodating each one a specific flora:

A “closed” zone shows the characteristics of a medium timbered, forest, with various stages of vegetation (herbaceous layer, shrubs, climbing plants, jet shafts high). According to the surface of the garden, one privileges gasolines more or less hautes.

An “open” zone is a space Herbe ux, potentially very flowered. The possibilities are multiple: the vegetation can be crossed at various periods of the year, more or less frequently, to support such or such plant species, but it can also be mowed relatively runs most of the time, to support the lowest plants and to offer an hunting ground to certain birds. This zone can also be left completely in Friche, medium which offers a permanent shelter to the insects of the grassy zones, or take the shape of a floor of flowers. Lastly, part of the garden, for example a edge, can be turned over every year in order to support the annual species such as the flowers of the champs.

A half-open zone is an intermediate between zones closed and opened zone. It is often present in the gardens in the form of a Haie, planted for its function of delimitation, but also corresponds to the Lisière of the wooded medium. A free hedge (not cut) with the advantage of being able to flower and produce Fruit S, and to be thus more attractive for the insects, birds and mammals. The thorny species offer to the small animals a good shelter against the predatory ones (cats and others).

A wetland can be made up of a more or less vast water level, of a fountain, a Marais, a ditch; it should be taken care that its installation is not likely to cause the drowning of the animals - and of the human ones - which approach some (soft inclined banks). Such a zone lodges a clean fauna, but also makes it possible the terrestrial species to be watered, the birds to bathe and some of the latter to take mud for the construction of their nid.

A dry zone takes the shape of a slope, of a gravel path, a rubble, a dry stone low wall (not built) or of a vegetable Toiture. They can quite simply be a wall bricks or stones which one abstains from rejointing.

Choice of the plants

Since a wild garden reproduces the natural environment of the area which surrounds it, it thus accommodates in majority of the indigenous plants. Those always accommodate a higher number of animal species than the “exotic” species. Indeed, they are in close relationship with the insects and other animals of the area, with which they evolve/move since millenia. Thus, the Inflorescence S of the plants of a given area are perfectly adapted to the pollinating (Insecte S, Oiseau X, Mammifère S) of this same area, which are attracted by their nectar and them Pollen; the same applies to their fruits, whose consumers disseminate seeds.

The indigenous plants thus constitute the base of the food pyramids. The strongest dependence with respect to them is at the level of the insects, and more particularly of their Larve S; these last depend strictly, to nourish itself, of the presence of particular plants, even of only one and single species. However, more the insects are numerous, more the garden will attract birds, and so on. In short, a great diversity of indigenous plants supports a great diversity of animal species which nourish from/to each other; this way, no species becomes abundant at the point to harm the vegetation. This balance between ravageurs and predatory is sought by the partisans of the agriculture and the biological Jardinage S.

However, a wild garden can accommodate a certain number of nonindigenous species very well. Some of them are indeed the large producing ones of nectar, seeds or fruits, or flower very early or very late in the season and ensure by there more a long period of nourrissage the animals. They should not however not represent the majority of the plants of a wild garden, but rather be regarded as one “more”. Example: the Tournesol is indigenous only in North America, but it is interesting in any wild garden because of its important production of seeds and because it is about a plant mellifère.

It is also necessary to underline the problem which the Cultivar S can constitute (i.e. the cultivated varieties, horticultural creations). When a cultivar results from the “improvement” of a existing Espèce to give double flowers, it does not produce often any more a nectar nor of Graine S, or in less quantity, and thus loses whole or part of its interest for the wild life. When a particular color of foliage is supported by selection, the insects which live on this plant and nourish themselves some are threatened of another way; the chromatic effect of Mimétisme which protects them on the plant in its original form is tiny room to nothing and they are much more visible for their predatory (risk of modification of ecological balance). When a cultivar is an hybrid between two or several species, one deals with “new” species; this one will be able to nourish certain insects, but certainly not as much as a species existing in a wild state (cf exotic species).

As regards the installation of the plants, two philosophies coexist. Some are in favor to let make nature above all and to wait until wild plants settle in the mediums prepared for them. This method makes it possible to let develop to the maximum seeds already present in the ground of the garden. It has an unquestionable advantage: the plants which develop are adapted perfectly to the particular conditions of the ground. Other gardeners are more “interventionists” and plant more plants, while preserving the spontaneous flora. The advantage is that allows the installation of wild plants which are not present any more in the close environment and for which the probability of seeing them to settle in the garden is very reduced, even null.

To get wild seedlings and seeds, several solutions exist. One can supply oneself in a Pépinière specialized in the wild species of local origin or call upon other “wild gardeners” who often have seeds or plants of surplus. It is also possible to take seeds and Bouture S in the waste grounds or at the edge of the roads. Caution: for certain protected spaces, any taking away of any left the plant is prohibited. Lastly, if a ground is on the way to be entirely built, one can take there whole plants and “squares of ground” using a Bêche. It is the only case where it is allowed “to plunder” so much is little the ground, since the medium is dedicated to the destruction. In the other cases, it is necessary to be limited to the harvest of seeds and cuttings where a plant is particularly abundant, in order not to endanger its population, which would go against the will of safeguarding of the nature which is at the base of the wild garden.

Animals, shelters and nourrissage

Being the animals, the watchword is simple: to carry out no introduction. First of all, from many species are protected and it is interdict to move the individuals (even at the stage of egg). Then, it is impossible to be absolutely certain that the garden will be appropriate for the species, and the introduction is likely to show a failure. Lastly, certain animals can strongly modify ecological balance and harm the biodiversity; it is thus completely disadvised introducing Poisson S and Canard S into a pond whose surface is reduced. If the garden is appropriate for certain animal species, they will come there from themselves and will be established to with it durably - in so far as cats and dogs leave them quiet…

To attract a maximum of animal life wild, all kinds of installations are possible: plat bands of flowers rich in nectar, square of sunflowers and other seed fournisseuses large plants appreciated of the birds, counts of nourrissage and mangers (only in winter!), nesting boxes for various species of birds, construction materials for the nests (mud, foams, wool remainders…), shelters with Hedgehog S, insects and bats… the gardener can also multiply with the envi all kinds of microphone-mediums favorable to the diversity of the wild life: wood piles, of died sheets, of stones, faggots of hollow stems, slopes dry and wet hollows, stock or dead tree trunk which will be colonized by the mushrooms… When the garden is surrounded by walls, those can be covered with climbing plants. A heap of compost attracts a crowd of tiny animals and is used as pantry with insectivorous of the garden.

Maintenance

The concept of garden wild can seem a misinterpretation, a gardened space (drawn, cultivated, controlled) being the opposite of a wild space, where the man does not intervene. However, if one wishes to maintain a certain diversity of mediums, it is necessary, following the example what is done in certain natural reserves, carrying out a minimum of management. In the contrary case, the garden could more not contain, at the end of a certain time, but one limited number of dominant species. Management also makes it possible to preserve a pleasant space for the gardener and his family thanks to the maintenance of ways, of a Pelouse for the plays of the children, of rest areas, etc maintenance is all the more necessary as the surface of the medium concerned is small, and thus sensitive to invasion by one or the other species.

In a general way, it is preferable to use power tools, quiet and more “soft” that the electric tools. Thus, to use a false to cut high grass leaves a chance of survival to the insects, which would be on the other hand crushed by an electric mower.
the objective of maintenance is not to clean the garden perfectly, in order to leave sufficient shelters for the small animals. Thus, it is to better remove the dead stems of the plat bands in spring, so that they can be used as refuge with the insects during the bad season.
part of the woody plants can be maintained in Taillis, for the wood of heating for example. That makes it possible to obtain bulky plants. Certain trees can be cut in tadpole: many plant species and animal will settle in the cavities of the “ball”. The trees in excess must be removed. It is interesting to preserve the trees dead and hollow, in so far as those do not constitute a danger, because they can be used as shelter with the cavernicolous animals (certain birds, squirrels, bats…).
In a small garden, it is often necessary to cut the hedges every years or every two years to limit the height and the width of it. It is absolutely necessary to proceed apart from the period of nesting of the birds.
the maintenance of a lawn requires a regular shearing, by regulating the blade rather high (approximately 8 cm). This supports the low plants, which will flower if some shearings from time to time are jumped. To support the plants of meadow of spring, the grass is cut regularly as from at the end of June only. To support the plants of meadow of summer, one does not mow before at the end of September; the grass can however be crossed until June if one needs a close-cropped grass zone.
the cut grass must be eliminated (compost) because the most flowered meadows are often poorest, a rich medium being too favorable to only the Chardon S, Ortie S and graminaceous. The grass must be left dry a few days before being evacuated, time that the small animals take refuge in thatches and that the ripe seeds are detached from the stems.
the waste lands must be regularly removed from the woody plants which are established to with it, in order to prevent the evolution about a wooded middle. One can for example mow a part of it each year.
the zones reserved for the annual plants must be turned over every year, before or for the period of rest of the vegetation, so that these plants are not competed with by the system racinaire long-lived plants .
It is often necessary to eliminate the Algue S which develop in the Mare S when water is too rich and to limit certain plants which are likely to invade the open water zone. The dead vegetable matter must be eliminated to avoid the Eutrophisation.
One can wish to give to the plat bands and rubbles close to the house and the terrace a neater aspect, to associate particular colors and to support the scented plants with it. It is consequently necessary to remove the plants undesirable, free to reinstall them elsewhere in the garden.
the compost must be ventilated and maintained wet, and, once ripe, extended to the foot of the young trees and the fruit-lofts, on the plat bands of demanding flowers and with the kitchen garden.

The indigenous plants, essentially perfectly adapted to the climate and the micro-organisms present in the environment (their “predatory”), require little care. The maintenance of a wild garden does not require a strongly proportioned Engrais, copious waterings, insecticidal and fungicidal treatments, of heavy tillage: in so far as the plants are adapted to the type of ground and the sunning of the zone where they are planted, they are naturally resistant and the gardener can be satisfied to limit their development. The rainwater barrel or cistern and the heap of compost are enough to look after the plants more demanding than the gardener will have wished to cultivate. If a plant decays in spite of the good balance of the garden, the attitude of the “wild gardener” is rather to think that it was not there really in its place rather than to bait itself to make it push costs which costs while intervening continuously.

Advantages

Beside the safeguard of nature and biodiversity, the wild garden presents other positive aspects.

A wild garden is at the same time a ecological Jardin and an economic garden. The absence of use of pesticides, intensive watering and recourse to the artificial fertilizers indeed make of it a garden not polluting and respectful water resources. The parsimonious use of the Lawn mower and the Taille-haie contribute at the same time to calm of the district and the savings in electricity. The price of the indigenous species is relatively relatively low, and even no one if one privileges the spontaneous establishment, the seed harvest, the propagation by cutting and the exchanges with other gardeners.

A wild garden also constitutes an ideal framework for the establishment of a pot or a biological Verger. Indeed, the ecological balance of the garden (absence of diseases, predatory varied) benefits the cultures and makes superfluous the use of pesticides. The presence of many pollinating insects is also guarantor of heavy crops of fruits and vegetable-fruits.

In rural area, these gardens are integrated harmoniously in landscape (not hedges of thujas which disfigure the scrap-metal, etc).

This concept of gardening is appropriate perfectly to the people who do not wish to devote too much time to the maintenance of their garden (see higher), but prefer to contemplate it and observe the life which develops to with it.

Lastly, the wild garden offers a ground of discovered for all its users, whatever their age. It makes it possible to be familiarized with plants become rare in the gardens and nature, although of local origin, and to observe the wildlife. Such a garden attracts birds and butterflies; it is there an element which will allure many owners of garden.

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