Planning a Nature Garden

December 9th, 2009 | Category: Native Plants | One comment |

Planting a garden is one of the greenest things you can do. It’s the ideal way to get outside, whether you are young or old, hip or square. It’s a path to sustainability, if you use good management practices, and it’s a way to get close to nature, to get your mind appreciating the wonders of our Earth, and your fingers right down there in the dirt.

Whether you are planning or designing a prairie garden, a wild bird garden, a hummingbird garden, a butterfly garden, a rain garden, a woodland garden, a desert garden, a school garden, or any kind of nature garden, or natural garden this is the place to find information and help.

Garden Design is Hard

To me the hardest part of planning a garden is making a design. I can pick out everything from trees, to shrubs to perennials I want to have in my garden. I can take a plan for a flower bed from a book or other source and implement it in my garden. But if I want my garden to flow together I need an overall design – that eludes me every time I approach it. To get around this I have signed up to take a garden design class starting soon – Successful Garden Design Beginners Course with Rachel Mathews. Rachel is an English garden designer. She has successfully run her own garden design company and has 20 years of experience. I’ll let you know how it goes. If you’re stuck like me, check out Rachel’s class. It would be fun to “meet” there.

I will be adding links to other articles and resources as I write them and as I find them. Check back when you are ready to start your project and as you plan and work on your garden.

Garden Planning Tools

Rain Garden Design terminology – words you need to know to learn what is possible or to work with a professional.

Books to Help You Plan Your Garden

Native Ferns, Moss and Grasses – if you love green textures in your garden, this is the book for finding native plants to fit your needs.
Bringing Nature Home – inspiration – information on native trees which support insects and birds. Lists of trees, shrubs, vines, perennials and groundcovers with details about insects that depend on them.
Natural Remodeling for the Not-so-Green House focuses on identifying what we want from our homes and gardens and how we can plan to integrate the indoor and outdoor environments to bring us closer to nature.