Mini Woodlands - William Robinson

I’ve dabbled if forest gardening occasionally. It’s a great way of utilising small neglected areas of the garden.

What is Forest Gardening?

Forest gardening is a low-maintenance sustainable plant-based food production and agroforestry system based on woodland ecosystems. The planting generally includes layers of fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines, perennial vegetables and ground cover plants which have yields directly useful to humans. The system will require some annual maintenance but not as much as a regular vegetable plot. 

If even that seems a bit too high maintenance for you or you don’t have the room then how about planting mini woodland?  You don’t even need to plant any edibles and you’ll still be helping the environment  as the primary reason would be to promote wildlife and reduce pollution. I think it’ll be the planting favourite of 2019 as we are going to see examples in most of this year’s flower shows.

Mini Woodlands

In the past, most horticultural show exhibits featured gardens with painstakingly pruned bushes, flawless flowers, weed free beds and manicured lawns. This has changed over the last few years with gardens concentrating on using recyclables, renewable energy, minimalist planting and after last year’s heat wave, drought tolerant planting. 

This year we’ll see planting schemes hoping to cool the gardens down with tree canopies, or at least give us somewhere to sit under in the shade when the sun does come out in force. With that prediction for 2019 I’d also think we will see cooling water features being a popular addition to the garden. 

Trees though are the single most efficient way for gardeners to improve our environment and help wildlife. Creating a miniature woodland will encourage wildlife and help reduce pollution particularly in urban areas.  Well-chosen small trees, such as ornamental and fruiting apples and cherries will be trouble free and for small gardens, shrubs can be used to good effect.

Birch trees are noted for pollution catching properties and also do surprisingly well in pots of soil-based potting media where space is very tight on a patio or back yard.  

This year at one large show there will be a Resilience Garden for the Forestry Commission, which showcases the ‘forests of the future’ and the trees that are resilient to the impending impact of climate change.  I don’t have any more details at present but have been told it will draw attention to the issues facing forests, woods and horticulture today.  Warmer climate facilitates pests and diseases, which can wipe out forests that are made up of only a few species. Because of this, the Forestry Commission is working to plant a greater variety of trees to safeguard our forests and woods for the future.  

William Robinson

I think it’s fair to say that one person who was and is a great influence on this new movement of wild gardening is a Laois born gardener and journalist called William Robinson (5 July 1838 – 17 May 1935) His ideas about wild gardening spurred the movement that led to the popularising of the English cottage garden.

He radically changed Victorian gardening, with his rants against bedding plants, his support of the wild garden, and his monumental book The English Flower Garden, which went into 15 editions in his lifetime.  

His most significant influence I think was the introduction of the idea of wild gardening, which first appeared in The Wild Garden and was further developed in The English Flower Garden.

The idea of introducing large drifts of hardy perennial plants into meadow, woodland, and waterside is taken for granted today, but was revolutionary in Robinson's time. In the first edition, he happily used any plant that could be naturalised, including half-hardy perennials and natives from other parts of the world, which meant the wild garden was not limited to locally native species. 

Robinson's own garden at Gravetye was planted on a large scale, but his wild garden idea could be realised in small plots, where the 'garden' is designed to appear to merge into the surrounding woodland or meadow. Robinson's ideas continue to influence gardeners and landscape architects today—from home and cottage gardens to large estate and public gardens. 

This year I think we’ll be hearing a lot more of William Robinson’s ideas in modern designs, with a few more trees thrown in for good luck.