How to Rewild Your Garden

Garden beds and manicured lawns can be beautiful and are something that many gardeners and homeowners have strived for when designing garden areas. But recently, there has been a change in what a ‘perfect’ garden looks like, with many deciding to get back to nature. Gardeners are focusing less on weeding, editing and manicuring their garden and focusing more on learning to live with the landscape as Mother Nature intended.

Gardeners are allowing a garden to be ‘less than perfect’ when the leaves fall or the weeds pop up. They're also planting to invite pollinators and creating places that wildlife can use as a habitat. This is what ‘rewilding’ is all about. Enjoying a garden and yard that is beautiful and that also honors nature. It is a lovely way to enjoy your corner of the world as nature intended it to be.

Today I am sharing a few simple ways to embrace ‘rewilding’ your garden. And you might be surprised at how easy it can be.

You don’t have to look at your beautifully landscaped yard and let nature take over everywhere. Rewilding can be a corner or two, or it can take place in a certain area of your yard where you don’t curate so native plants can grow.

Fencing can be useful to show property lines and create privacy, but you can also achieve that by incorporating a living fence. Use climbing plants, tall hedges and other native plants in place of traditional fencing.

So often in autumn when the leaves finish falling, we jump right in to rake them up and tidy the garden beds. But contrary to that thought, a way to live more cohesively with nature is to leave those fallen leaves on the ground through the winter. Leaves will provide a natural mulch to help protect and nourish plants. They also create a place where wildlife and small creatures can forage through the colder months.

Enjoy beautiful blooms throughout the season by scattering wildflower seeds in your garden. Wildflowers create a natural garden area, and they don’t require weeding or any work to maintain. It encourages a more natural look because they mingle with weeds and other native plants. Plus, gardens filled with wildflowers will also welcome butterflies.

Stacks of logs are perfect as a natural landscape element in the garden, and they are also ideal for creating natural habitats for wildlife. Many creatures use fallen wood in nature for food and incorporating a small stack of logs in a garden corner will offer a place for them to forage.

Invite butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators into your garden by planting flowering plants. It’s a great way to invite nature in and rewild your garden.

We have an abundance of blackberries, native wildflowers and sweet peas that grow naturally on our property. While we have curated some areas, we have allowed others to grow in. Not only do we enjoy the fruits of the plants in summer, but it also creates a natural, beautiful look.

Not every garden path or border needs to look manicured or incorporate hard landscaping. A simple and easy way to let nature lead the way is to use ‘walkable’ plants such as herbs on the pathways. Or leave them as dirt, mulch, bark or grassy areas that blend in with the garden.

I hope these rewilding ideas inspire you to try something new! Embrace your garden as nature intended and enjoy all the rewards and beauty that rewilding brings.