Wild Gardens

Name: Wild By Design
Price range: $$

Design-led, nature-rich gardens with a lighter touch. More life, more seasonality, less fuss.

WILD GARDENS

What we mean by a wild garden

A wild garden is not messy or unmanaged. It is a designed space that gives nature room to work — where ecological thinking and a designer’s eye come together to create something that feels intentional, beautiful and alive through every season.

We work with the conditions your site already has — its soil, aspect, moisture, and what’s already growing — and build on them. The result is a garden that attracts more wildlife, needs less intensive maintenance, and genuinely improves year after year as habitats establish and mature.

Wild gardens are one of the most effective ways to support biodiversity in residential settings. Even a modest garden in suburban Surrey can become a meaningful habitat for birds, pollinators, amphibians and countless invertebrates — if it’s designed with the right principles in mind.

Our wildlife garden ideas post is a good companion to this page — and for planting choices that keep maintenance genuinely low while supporting wildlife, our guide to ground cover plants UK covers the best species for suppressing weeds and feeding pollinators.

Our posts on trees in the garden and a make do and mend approach to garden care sit naturally alongside a wilder aesthetic — valuing what the site already has and working with existing structure rather than clearing and replanting from scratch.

Typical outcomes

More birds, pollinators, and amphibians

Seasonal structure and richer planting

Better water holding and cooler microclimates

A garden that improves every year

Pick one intervention or combine a few into a simple plan.

Wild garden services

Nature-Led Garden Design

Every wild garden starts with a clear plan. We design a masterplan for your space that balances ecology with how you actually use your garden — where you sit, where the children play, where the dog runs. The planting, phasing and layout are all considered together so the garden feels cohesive from day one, not bolted together.

We work with native and wildlife-friendly species wherever possible, but this isn’t about sacrificing beauty for ecology. Our planting schemes deliver colour, texture, height and seasonal interest while quietly creating the conditions that wildlife needs to thrive.

Wildlife Ponds

A pond is the single highest-impact feature you can add to any garden. Even a small body of clean, still water becomes a magnet for frogs, newts, dragonflies, birds and bats. We design ponds with gentle profiles, varied depths, diverse edge planting and natural materials so they look like they belong and function as genuine habitat from the moment they’re filled.

Explore our wildlife pond and wetland services

Woodland Edge and Scrub

If your garden backs onto woodland or has mature trees, there’s a huge opportunity in the transition zone between open garden and tree canopy. We create glades, woodland edge planting, deadwood habitat and scrub mosaics that add structure and shelter while dramatically increasing the diversity of species your garden supports.

Hedgerows and Boundaries

Hedgerows are some of the most ecologically valuable features in any landscape. We lay, restore and plant hedgerows using native species that provide food, shelter and corridors for wildlife moving between habitats. Where appropriate, we also build and restore dry stone walls — beautiful, durable boundaries that support insects, amphibians and small mammals.

Hibernacula and Habitat Features

Sometimes the smallest interventions make the biggest difference. We build hibernacula, log piles, bug hotels and habitat pockets that give wildlife a safe, sheltered place to overwinter, nest and breed. These features can be tucked into existing borders or designed as a visible part of your garden’s character.

Light-Touch Maintenance

A wild garden doesn’t need weekly tidying — it needs intelligent, seasonal stewardship. We provide ongoing maintenance that works with the natural rhythms of your garden rather than against them. Less mowing, less tidying, more understanding of what to leave, when to cut, and what to let grow.

Who Wild Gardens Are For

You don’t need acres of land to have a wild garden. We design wild gardens for all kinds of sites — from compact Surrey back gardens to larger rural plots. If you’re drawn to the idea of a garden that feels more natural, supports more wildlife and requires less intensive upkeep, a wild garden approach could work for you.

Our wild garden projects often sit alongside more formal areas — a wilder zone at the end of the garden, a meadow strip replacing part of a lawn, or a pond tucked into an existing border. You don’t have to go fully wild to benefit from the approach.

Ready to make your garden wilder?

If you’re interested in making your garden wilder, our free habitat assessment is the best place to start. We’ll visit your site, walk through what you have and what’s possible, and give you clear, practical recommendations — with no obligation to go further.

Alternatively, if you already know what you want, get in touch and we’ll arrange an initial meeting to talk through your project.

View our wilding portfolio
Meet our wilding team