Tips for Planting a Meadow (page 1 of 2)

A meadow doesn't have to take up acres upon acres of space. Learn how you can have a meadow garden in your backyard with these gardening tips.

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Planning Your Meadow Garden

No garden is too small for a beautiful wildflower meadow, so don't be put off if you do not have acres of space. Meadows can be used to great effect sown in pots or flowerbeds and look especially striking mown into distinct shapes on a lawn. Consider the following tips for planning your meadow garden.

Focal Points

When creating a wildflower meadow, you should consider how it will affect the rest of the garden and how it can be used to enhance other areas. Patches of wildflowers can be focal points in their own right, but they can also be used as backdrops or foils to lead the eye to other features, such as seating or the white trunk of a silver birch tree.

Shapes, Paths and Edging

Patches of meadow planting are eye-catching, especially when used to punctuate formal settings; they look particularly striking when cut into shapes or given neat edges, in contrast to their naturally informal look. In a larger garden a mown path through a wildflower meadow creates a lovely feature, enticing people to walk among the flowers.

Wildlife Benefits

There are many wild creatures that will benefit from the longer grass and wide range of plants that a wildflower meadow provides. Bees and butterflies will be attracted to the nectar-rich plants, while animals from hedgehogs to harvest mice and swallows will be able to find a home among the diverse plants.