Creating a wild patio you and the wildlife will love

One of my favourite parts of my garden is my wild patio. It has a magical quality which is hard to describe. It’s a bit like a fairy grotto. At this time of year it’s overflowing with plants. It’s a haven for me and an absolute magnet for wildlife. So I thought I’d share my 11 secrets for creating a wild patio like mine.

Tip one has to be loosen up your thinking.

Loosen Up Your Thinking

If you’re a neat and tidy merchant, (I’m so not) I think this will be the hardest rule to follow. As you’ve got to be prepared for things to look a bit wild. You’ve got to be up for letting nature do its thing.

For instance, I have a flower bed which curves around two sides of my patio. I don’t police where the edge of that bed ends and the patio begins. As a result my garden provides a ready source of many of the plants on my patio. I have Astrantia, Geranium, Nepeta, Aquilegia, Campanula and so forth all in mini forms in the cracks of my patio. That’s fine with me. This blurring of what lives where is essential.

If things get too big for the cracks or I don’t like where they are I pull them up. I sometimes grow them on in pots and then put them in back my borders – or use them in containers!

Don’t Fill The Cracks

To create a wild patio I’d suggest you don’t fill the cracks on your patio with cement. My patio slabs have shingle between them, as we wanted to be sure the area would drain well. You might worry that this makes the gaps an absolute magnet for weeds. It does, but lots of plants I do want are drawn to those cracks too!

So rather than slavishly trying to keep the paving gaps clear of plants I let whatever sets seed there, do it’s thing. I pull out the obvious weeds but leave everything to grow until I’ve worked out what it is. If in doubt, I leave it rather than pull it out.

Choose a Base Plant

Although this sounds like the patio cracks are an absolute free for all, when creating a wild patio you do need a bit of a plan. For instance I have a focus plant which I aim to have growing in the patio cracks. For me that’s the daisy like plant called Erigeron – you can see here why I think it’s such a brilliant plant. I popped a few bits of Erigeron in the edge of my flower bed and also some in low pots around the patio and as a result it has spread around the whole patio area. It creates the most wonderful magical ‘grotto’ type look and has inhibited the weeds.

Choosing Containers

Of course no patio is complete without containers, and I have gazillions of them. But I don’t get too hung up on having a uniform colour of container, or style.

I don’t use plastic pots as I want my effect to be earthy, but otherwise anything goes. I have terracotta and coloured clay pots, old sinks, metal buckets, old dressing up baskets, wicker baskets, a mini wheel barrow…you name it!

My only advice when it comes to containers is to favour medium or large over small. You don’t want heaps of tiny pots. From a practical point of view they will dry out too quickly – so you will be an absolute slave to watering. Watering is a key consideration for me, not least as I put my back out last week watering my containers using a bucket because I was in a rush!

Another reason why I’d avoid too many small pots is that I think the most effective containers have a mix of plants in them. So you need containers which give you room for combinations.

Relax About Your Colour Scheme

To have the maximum variety of insects buzzing around your patio you need to have the maximum variety of plants in terms of flower shapes and colours. If you try to stick rigidly to a colour scheme you will not create the effect.

Also, remember your colour scheme will get overridden anyway, by nature populating all those cracks in your pavings with plants. Nature isn’t going to follow your colour rules, so I’d suggest you have a relaxed view about colours to start with.

Plant Containers with Care

Having said all that, you still want to plant up individual containers beautifully. So that they look great individually in their own right. Get the proportions right (your container should equate to either two thirds or one third of the total once you have the plants in it). Also try to use the colourwheel when planning your colour combination.

Looking at my own patio I have:

• Pink and silver
• Orange and red
• Yellow and red
• Purple and pink
• Yellow and purple
• Limey green and purple

This sounds like a right old mish-mash doesn’t it! But I actually take a lot of care in making sure the individual containers work. I also group the containers reasonably carefully so that they look good next to each other, but I’m not restricted overall in the colours or plants I go for.

If you’re stuck for inspiration, here are some suggestions for how I planted up metal containers

Choose a Variety of Plants

Want a wild patio? Then forget regimented planting!

Creating a wild patio which is wildlife friendly means having a real variety of plants. I personally am not a big fan of bedding plants. I love violas and pansies, and will happily use them as much as the next person to liven up my pots, especially during the colder months before other plants fully kick off. But otherwise I feel there are plenty of other plants you can use in containers other than bedding plants. In particular I go for perennials (plants which come back year after year) such as Geraniums, Penstemmons, Clematis, Achillea, Gaura and Heuchera.

I like plants like these because they look wilder, free flowing, much more natural. They have different flower shapes to suit different insects, and yes you guessed it, different colours. (Sorry I’m going on about that a bit much aren’t I!)

The other benefit of going for perennial plants is that it will save you a fortune in plants. The plants will not simply return each year, they will also grow. If they thrive you will be able to divide them or take cuttings from them and expand your stock of plants – not just on your patio but in the rest of your garden.

For instance I have a gorgeous Achillea Moonshine in a container. Last year it had outgrown its pot so I divided it up and put the spare plants I’d created in my flower beds. I popped the Achillea back in a container and what do you know – it’s already massive again! I’m going to have to divide it up this Autumn again! You can see how to divide perennials here

Don’t Forget Foliage

Having banged on about flowers and colour, I should add that when creating a wild patio you want it to look good all year round. So to keep the wild look but ensure Winter interest, I have evergreen grasses and ferns.

I go for leaf texture too. For instance, my three Camellias have gorgeous glossy leaves all year round (and of course voluptuous blooms in the late Winter-Spring). I find them quite tricky to look after but after lots of trial and error I think I’ve now sussed them! If you are thinking of having a Camellia in a container, you may find this helpful.

I also have a gorgeous Daphne with a variegated leaf. She’s called burkwoodii ‘Astrid.’ As an evergreen shrub, she looks wonderful all year round and produces the most amazing scented flowers in the Spring. I thought I’d killed her the other day as all her leaves seemed to be dropping off. Not sure whether it was all the frosts, the rain or me! But she’s bounced back to tip top form. Good old Daphne!

For Spring and Summer impact on the leaf front I also have hostas. My favourite is Sum and Substance. He’s huge and provides almost a tropical look to the shady corner he presides over on my patio.

Trees

If you’ve room, when creating your wild patio, I’d also consider having a tree in a container. They provide height, that all important plant variety and make the area look established. There are plenty of small trees you could go for.

For me, I have two Acers (which I rescued from a sale area at a garden centre). They’re slow growing so they’re not providing the height I’m after yet but their foliage makes up for that. I have them in a semi shady corner of my patio and they utterly lift the gloom. Near them I have a metal container planted up with hot coloured Geum Totally Tangerine, a Soft Shield Fern, Heuchera Fire Chief (a cutting I took) and for an extra shot of lower level orange  orange osteospermum. This is an inexpensive filler plant which won’t last our Winter but only cost a few pounds and will flower its socks off all Summer long. Add in ferns and grasses and I think the corner looks really lovely.

Think Height

With a wild patio a lot of the action is happening at quite a low level, with wonderful plants meandering their way through the cracks. However, I’ve taken care to add height to the area too. I’ve done this through having clematis in containers growing up obelisks. I also have some very poor performing sweet peats almost growing up a wigwam of canes! These elements disrupt the view, taking the eye up and down the space, forcing it to pause and slow down as it views the area – making the space feel bigger and calmer. This is a really neat visual trick if your patio or garden area is small.

The obelisks also provide a ‘jungle jim’ for the birds which brings me to my final point.

Be Bird Friendly

In my book a wild patio needs to be bird friendly. I have a bird table (which my youngest, Henry, made for me when he was 8 – ahhh) He’s now a great hulking 19 year old and rather embarrassed about the whole thing!

I also have a bird box on the shady fence next to my patio and a birdbath which I swoosh out and replenish every day.

The bird song, as I sit at my patio table drinking my corning cuppa, is extraordinary. I’m not daft enough to think all that noise is because of my wild patio, but I do think its nature-friendliness helps.

So that’s it. That’s my secret to creating a wild patio – a magical space for me and nature. What could be better! In fact it’s calling me right now. I’m going to head out there with a cuppa! Happy gardening xx