Natural garden. Natural garden (natural style garden). “Wild” garden: “... you can achieve an impressive effect with simple means!”

The first natural gardens, or naturgardens, arose in Germany and the Netherlands, when the local landscape designers decided to experiment with a park landscape. Gardens became very popular and soon they began to be created on private plots.

Gardens in a natural style can be made in the form of a forest grove, steppe, mountain area and contain several zones (if the size allows), for example, a gravel flower garden, wet banks of a reservoir, etc. The site is populated with suitable wild plants, which belong to the normal flora selected climate zone.

Features of a natural garden

Create natural garden doing it yourself is an activity that is feasible for almost every gardener; the main thing is to be patient and give time to natural forces to do the main work themselves. The peculiarity of such gardens in a natural style is the variability of their appearance, the dominant plants replace each other from year to year.

Such changeability and naturalness of the processes occurring in the garden appeals to many nature lovers.

Garden microclimate

When creating a natural garden with your own hands, you need to know its microclimate well so that new plantings take root well. Experienced gardeners They know that southern slopes are warmer, while lowlands and flat areas are cooler. The hedge will be better positioned if gusts of wind break against it, which will protect the pond from drying out excessively. Stones scattered near a pond accumulate heat during the day and release it at night.

Plantings in a natural garden

The style of a natural garden and, accordingly, the plants for it must be suitable for the climate and soil of the site. Therefore, to begin with, it is recommended to study how nature itself prefers to design the site and follow in this vein. Those plants that grow near the site will most likely take root on it.

When starting to build a natural garden with your own hands, you should first tackle the large elements, which are most often trees. The presence of oak, birch, pine, linden or other trees in the garden will make your task easier and eliminate the need to wait for the moment when your plan garden composition will take on its final form.

If there are no large trees, then in the first years the garden will look like a lawn.

Shrubs (rhododendron, wild rosemary, etc.) are planted under the tree crowns, as well as shadow lovers ferns. In open areas of the Naturgarden, it is better to plant perennial plants such as bellflower, lungwort, daisies, and cornflowers. These plants are unpretentious, grow well and bloom beautifully.

You can add several bright areas to the wild mosaic of plants using sunflowers, hollyhocks, nasturtiums and others. cultural species with bright colors.

Wet and shady banks of a pond or stream are a suitable place for wintergreen and marsh iris. Free space between perennial plants on open area you can borrow ground cover plants(thyme, sedum periwinkle).

Landscape tricks (video)

Animals

Your natural garden may also appeal to some wildlife, such as lizards or hedgehogs. Hedgehogs will love a wooden house placed in a secluded place. To attract birds and squirrels to your site, nail birdhouses to trees.

Paths and lighting in a natural garden

To walk around the garden, you will need to lay paths and paths, preferably dirt ones, or stone ones in extreme cases. Concrete or brick are completely incompatible with the design of a natural garden and will destroy the atmosphere of a wild corner. Place it in the shade of trees wooden bench, where you can sit and enjoy the sounds of the garden and birdsong.

Naturgarden will be greatly decorated with lighting for plants, for which you can use lamps operating on solar powered. Their diffused light dark time days will give the garden a flair of mystery and fabulousness.

Of course, such a blessed natural corner cannot be created in one year; it will take several years for plants and animals to coexist in conditions of stable equilibrium. This will not require large financial costs, but mostly patience, and the reward will be the opportunity to spend time in the lap of nature.

Gardens of the World (video)

Natural garden (20 photos)

Reviews and comments

Igor 11/13/2014

It may seem only at first glance that “natural” is the simplest style. Nothing like this! Here you have to go between Scylla-artificiality and Charybdis-neglect - take a close look at the English landscape style and the combination of plants: .

Nadezhda 10/31/2015

Oh yeah! There is a big difference between naturalness and neglect, as they say in Odessa. 🙂
In fact, it is a lot of work to create such well-groomed landscapes as in the photographs for the article.
It’s a good idea to know which plants combine with each other in nature and use this when planting. This way they grow better and complement each other.
This is exactly how they tried to plant plants on garden plot my parents, when they began to design the site in a natural “style”.

Irina 01/14/2017

Interesting trend. At first, people sought to cultivate all available space, but now they are beginning to appreciate natural corners of nature. I heard that in England even competitions are held among Naturgarden gardens. I would really like to have such a corner on my site. And so that various wildflowers replace each other throughout the season. I know that there are even special sets of seeds for such a “wild” lawn.

The Naturgarden style originated in Germany at the end of the 18th century as a result of discussions about the English landscape garden. The German nature garden was supposed to differ from the English version with greater functionality, a scientific approach and less idealization of nature. In the 20th century, naturgarden gained particular popularity in Western and Northern Europe and is now being transformed into an eco-garden, in which the entire design of the site, including buildings, is carried out taking into account maximum environmental friendliness.

General principles

Naturgarden is designed to unite man and nature. “Native” plants are especially welcome here, the design is focused on the native landscapes of the area, but differs from wild nature in that the space is planned and created by people, who also take care of it. The use of chemicals is excluded; plant diseases and pests are combated using organic farming methods.

Coatings

The paths can be gravel or filled with mulch, the platforms can be in the form of wooden flooring, but in any case not paved. They should allow water to pass through and not contribute to soil compaction. The place of the lawn is usually taken by a lawn with native grass species.

Plants

Sometimes in the descriptions of plants there is a note “for creating flower beds of a natural appearance, naturgardens.” The latter is an attempt to grow natural species with decorative properties on the site. Such flower beds should subsequently require minimal care, since, if everything is done correctly, the plants themselves will regulate growth and development, as in the forest, in the field, in the meadow - depending on which naturgarden was chosen as a model. The site is divided into miniature ecosystems depending on the conditions: swamp, meadow, rock garden, forest - where the corresponding plant species are planted.

The garden is based on the correct selection of plants, in strict accordance with the existing environmental conditions on the site. The main factors are light, moisture and soil fertility. The amount of herbs and grains is strictly regulated, flowering plants, annuals and perennials so that they can ensure natural regeneration. Plantings must be mulched with wood chips, bark or other natural materials. In the first few years after creation, such gardens require careful care: weeding and watering. In the second or third year, as a result of the plants gradually closing together, care work will be reduced.

Play an important role native trees and shrubs, ferns, grasses, bulbous plants of natural appearance (for example, if tulips are botanical).

3 useful ideas from the creators of the Naturgarden style

1. Smart planting scheme. Ideally, plants should be selected and placed so that the garden does not need watering or weeding at all.

In practice, this is rarely possible, but it is enough to implement the idea at least partially, this will already make the maintenance of the garden easier.

Divide it into sections depending on environmental conditions: note where it is hot and sunny all day, where moss grows and feels damp, and where snow blows away in winter. Make lists of plants for each location using a reference book. Consider their lighting and soil requirements. It's better not to give too much of great importance flowering time, foliage shape and other decorative characteristics. Plants are always harmonious, and even unexpected combinations can be extremely successful. You may want to replace some types later, but there will be only a few of them.

2. Water-permeable coatings. Stone and concrete paths do not allow water to pass into the lower layers of the soil, but redistribute it so that in some places it is too dry, in others it is damp. Microbiological processes in the soil are disrupted, it loses its porous structure and cakes. It becomes more difficult to care for plants, and compacted soil can become an obstacle to the movement of groundwater.

Try to use more filtering, that is, water and air permeable coatings for paths and playgrounds. Wooden and composite decking, gravel, and lawns do not disturb the ecology of the site.

3. Local materials. Take a closer look at finishing and landscape materials that are traditional for your area. They are, as a rule, the most inexpensive, and in addition, they look most natural in a natural garden.

Garden designed in natural style- This original version summer cottage design. When arranging it, it is recommended to ensure that it is in harmony with the environment.

Photo example:

How to design a garden in a natural way?

When creating a garden in a natural style, you do not need to use crops that require special care. The design can be done in the form of:

1. Rows of open spaces;
2. Backstage complex;
3. Species points.

In this case, cereal plants are used, which can become not only the main aspect, but also complement the design. An important aspect is to create the effect of free space. Plants must independently take over the territory of the summer cottage.

What should a natural garden be like?

The placement of cropped crops in the garden is strictly prohibited. Statues and waterfalls should also be abandoned. When arranging a summer cottage, it is recommended to ensure that it is high-tech and comfortable.

To get inspiration and ideas for landscape design, it is recommended to observe nature itself. If there is a small pine forest on the site, it is recommended to create scenes. In this case, hawthorn and various low-growing crops are used.

In the foreground, ferns, strawberries, and blueberries are being planted. When creating a site, it is recommended to use all the crops that were planted before. You can also use ornamental plants, which are able to withstand natural growing conditions.

If a person adheres to certain principles when creating landscape design, this will create an atmosphere of comfort and peace.

Selecting plants to decorate a natural garden

To create a natural style, you must follow certain rules. In order for the landscape design to be as similar as possible to the natural one, it is necessary to plant plants that have various forms of inflorescences:

1. Umbrellas;
2. Balls;
3. Panicles.

It will look very beautiful if bright and delicate flowers are visible through the tall grass. For example, you can plant basilisk or burnet. In the background there may be loosestrife, speedwell, and black cohosh.

Flower garden in natural style: maximum naturalness

We also need to take care of the flower garden. A natural flower garden is charming and catches the eye of anyone. Given that correct selection range of plants ensures ease of care. To decorate a natural flower garden, it is recommended to use ornamental grasses.

The ideal option would be to plant perennials:

• Turf pike;
• Reed grass;
• Switch millet.

You can also drop off annual cereals – maned barley, shaker grass, haretail, canary grass, bristle grass.

To decorate flower beds, the use of annual plants is allowed - annual flax, cornflower, cosmos, eschscholzia, keeled chrysanthemum. These crops are often used if perennials were planted this year and they were not able to grow to their full potential.

By what principle should plants be placed?

In the center of the flower garden you can plant a shrub or small tree that has bluish foliage. In most cases, the use of silver oleaster or rowan aria is used.

The creation of clear vertical lines is carried out with the help of reed grass, alpine burnet and soddy pike.

It is no secret that in almost all countries with deep traditions of ornamental gardening and magnificent parks that capture our imagination, interest in natural “wild” landscapes has increased in recent years. At the most prestigious exhibitions, displays that reproduce the ecosystem of a swamp, meadow, virgin forest, etc. win. City dwellers, who are hungry for simple, but so understandable and sincere colors, are especially persistent in striving for this style. The most modern parks in Chicago, Singapore and Hong Kong transport city dwellers, always in a hurry on business, to prairies and savannahs, jungles and mountains. Even in the landscaping of buildings in the high-tech style, compositions made from cereals and wild herbs. In our country, this design style is most in demand in areas allocated in the forest zone, which is not uncommon recently. Or maybe you just dream of enjoying a vacation on your property, as if you were far beyond the borders of civilization. Then our advice will help you with this.

Of course, when we talk about a “wild” garden, we do not mean a neglected and unkempt one, where plants grow on their own and have turned into impenetrable “hashes”. Few people find attractive vegetation in a neighboring planting or along the road and would like to have it in their garden. We all understand the difference between stylization, for example, “antique” and real rarities, antiques; there are even special techniques for “aging” things, etc. So it is here: the “wildness” of the garden must be carefully planned, it is necessary to think through the outlines, lines and materials that will create a special atmosphere.

I personally like the approach of the masters who notice the most beautiful and harmonious pictures in the natural landscape, thoughtfully analyze why it is beautiful, pleasing to the eye, what it consists of, what laws it is built by, and then try to put such a picture together like a mosaic in their gardens.

For those who want to create their own “wild garden”, two main tasks need to be solved step by step. On the one hand, it is necessary to first build various objects for living, recreation and work, connect them with paths and platforms, and then proceed directly to the selection of an assortment of plants characteristic of the selected natural community. Naturally, for complete harmony it is necessary that all buildings and even fences be made in a suitable style, for example, a wooden log house or chalet, or be finished with natural materials (wood, natural or imitations of them).

If this is not possible, then the distant areas of the garden are decorated in a natural style, visually separating them with curtains of trees and shrubs.

It is also important at the planning stage to give the paving and contours of flower beds a rounded, “streamlined” shape. Look at the paths that people and animals trample in the forest. Not a single right angle, no sharp or small bends, no flashy contrasts that beginner gardeners are guilty of. Only smoothly flowing lines that bend around obstacles. For finishing paving, you also need to choose natural materials: stone, wood, pebbles, for mulching - decorative crushed stone or crushed bark. However, here too you should avoid geometric shapes, clear patterns and contrasting color combinations, which are sometimes used in modern design. In areas located in the forest, where there is especially little light between closed trees, you can mulch the surface with fallen pine needles and pine cones. This mulch looks very natural and original, and it’s practically free. Fits very nicely into the landscape (natural) style of an area of ​​imitation water or a “dry river bed”, recreated with the help of pebbles or small gravel, possibly with a bridge, water devices in the form of a spring, a “crying stone”, paths made of separate slabs, between which a gradually growing moss or self-seeding ground covers. Next to the path, dig in “grown into the ground” boulders, weathered and covered with lichens.

It has also become traditional to paving paths and platforms on forest areas from transverse wooden cuts or timber beams with rectangular cross-section 20-25 cm wide and 15-20 cm thick, laid along or across the path. Long-lasting paths and steps are made from old sleepers. The most suitable wood for harvesting is aspen, oak or black alder. But, of course, pine is more accessible and more often used. In order to make a path, you need cuts 10-15 cm thick and at least 20 cm in diameter. The combination of “round pieces” looks the most interesting. different diameters. If you show ingenuity and imagination, combine several materials that are harmonious in color and texture, such a path will not only be economical, but will also become a feature of your site.

Sometimes, for paths in a landscape-style garden, backfilling is used on top of the lower underlying crushed stone layer with gravel or screening out granite rocks with a grain fraction of 3 to 10 mm. However, we must remember that bulk materials are difficult to clean from leaves, mown grass, and in winter from snow. Gravel spreads on your feet, and therefore, every few years, the paths will have to be renewed, adding fresh ones. To prevent gravel from spreading, paths can be limited with boards, stones or other suitable materials.

For construction, garden furniture, swing supports, pergolas, etc. You can use logs, stumps, thick branches of attractive shape, removing the bark and treating them with special impregnants. Often for these purposes, so-called “floaters” are used - trunks that have lain in water for a long time, thrown ashore and dried. They have an interesting shape, however, working with such material requires artistic taste and skill.

Regarding the selection of an assortment of plants for a “wild” garden, I suggest remembering that people themselves determine, according to their own taste, which plants are considered weeds, and how beautiful garden flowers worthy of growing in our gardens. Meanwhile, all plants originally grew somewhere in the wild and can be harmful weeds in their homeland. Aglaonemas, monsteras, begonias, regal orchids, etc. grow quietly along roads in countries of the corresponding climatic zones. Only an attentive person appreciated their natural beauty and brought it into our gardens. Later they were cultivated, new varieties were developed and began to be considered domestic. In the most luxurious English gardens, our malicious weeds and their relatives - thistle, mordovnik, yarrow, eryngium and many others - cause delight. Perhaps we, too, need to learn to see the beauty of familiar plants and bring them into our gardens. As a rule, plants from other countries and continents seem more interesting to us. When starting to plan an assortment of plants, you also need to understand what kind of landscape (or rather biogeocenosis) in this place you want to reproduce (meadow, forest edge, shore of a reservoir or dry gravel scree). Then you will have to start by creating the appropriate conditions, or select plants to match existing ones. In nature, all natural processes are so established that every piece of territory with a certain set of factors will be inhabited by living organisms adapted specifically to given conditions (temperature, light, moisture, soil -nutrients). By compensating for the missing element, you can significantly expand the range of plants grown. Without changing anything on your site, you can easily grow only those plants that are already growing in your neighborhood, plants of the same zone from another continent (for example, North American), or a more severe climate zone. There is a large range of very resistant, unpretentious plants, as a rule, species (taken from the wild), but their decorative qualities they can't always suit us. Therefore, we have to look for an alternative: either create conditions for attractive and more demanding plants, or plant representatives of natural flora on your site. Usually we look for the “golden mean”, combining both.

You can make it cozy and peaceful, and isolate your wild garden from the surrounding view using curtains of trees and shrubs, especially conifers that grow naturally in our or a similar climate, or their varieties with an interesting habit or unusual shape of leaves, flowers, and branches. To integrate new plants into the natural landscape, choose varieties with discreet, pastel-colored flowers. In a wild garden, you should not get carried away with decorative foliage, especially purple and golden ones; they can only be present and slightly shade the greenery of other plants. Moreover, do not make too contrasting combinations, diluting the plantings with neutral and transitional shades.

Some of the most unpretentious (up to 2 zones) are a variety of different varieties everyone's favorite and familiar warty birch (Betula pendula) with different crown shapes, from columnar to weeping - "Youngii", "Goldbirk", as a color accent you can plant a birch with purple foliage - "Purpurea" or with gracefully dissected openwork foliage - " Laciniata".

Up to zone 3, you can successfully grow fragrant bird cherry trees: common bird cherry (P. padus) and medium-sized virgin bird cherry (Padus virginiana) with an almost round crown, reaching 4-6 m, covered in clusters of fragrant flowers in May. The trees are quite unpretentious, but grow best in humus, moist soil.

Also pay attention to the very unpretentious (zone 2), original varieties with openwork carved leaves of gray alder (Alnus incana "Laciniata") and black alder (A. glutinosa "Laciniata").

I can’t imagine a natural-style garden without the mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia), which is spectacular both in the spring during flowering, when it is covered with large (up to 15 cm) cream-colored inflorescences, and in the fall, covered with clusters of scarlet berries, delighting both people and birds. Of course, we cannot do without beautiful flowering trees, for example, apple trees of the Far Eastern and North American species. The abundantly flowering apple tree (Malus x floribunda), exported back in the 19th century from Japan, is very beautiful when the purple buds on graceful branches gradually open into white and pink flowers, or the Siberian berry apple tree (M. baccata) with white flowers. If you want to have a tree with pink flowers, you should plant a very frost-resistant, unpretentious, pest and disease resistant Nezdwiecki apple tree (M. niedzwetzkyana) - a small tree with leaves that are purple during the blooming period and later turn green on the outside, and the flowers are deep pink. By autumn, the tree is covered with a mass of small, burgundy apples, which gives it additional decorativeness.

A natural style garden cannot be complete without shrubs. In the background of the mixborder, species of lilacs are very good, for example, Hungarian lilac (Syringa josikaea), growing in the form of a large openwork bush, covered with purple fragrant inflorescences or the more compact Meyer lilac (Syringa meyeri). The prickly rose (R. pimpinellifolia) is covered with white or yellowish flowers in May, and the gray rose (R. glauca) - big bush with blue-green shiny leaves with a reddish tint (yellow and red-orange in autumn), blooms in June-July with purple-red flowers, and orange-red spherical fruits ripen in July.

Fieldfare (Sorbaria sorbifolia) is a large bush with characteristic feathery leaves, especially beautiful during flowering, when it is covered with white paniculate inflorescences.

Similar to it is the dioecious (Aruncus dioicus) native to the western regions of the European part of Russia, the Caucasus and Central Europe, perennial up to 2 m tall with compound, double-pinnate leaves and white paniculate inflorescences

In the foreground, closer to the path, plant cinquefoil (Potentilla): low (P. supina) - a beautiful shrub with a creeping, uneven habit (reaches 60-80 cm in height) slightly blue-green leaves, has varieties with white, yellow and red flowers (zone 3), or shrubby (P. fruticosa)

Interesting shrubs for a wild garden are numerous types of honeysuckle. Tatarian honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica) is our endemic, blooms with pink fragrant flowers, is very stable and unpretentious.

Red honeysuckle (L. xylosteum)- shade-tolerant shrub, 3-5m in height, first produces yellow-white flowers, and then dark red inedible, but quite decorative berries. Tolerates dry sandy soil. Maack honeysuckle (L. maackii) has an umbrella-shaped crown and red berries that hang on the bush for a very long time.

If you are planning, there is room in it for mahonia holly and snowberries. White snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) is a low branched shrub up to 1.5-2 m -3 high, especially beautiful in the fall, when it is completely covered with spherical, white fruits so that from a distance it looks like a blooming spirea.

Flowering and decorative deciduous perennials and ground cover will take their place under the canopy of trees and shrubs. Naturally, it’s impossible to list everything, but I can’t imagine a natural garden without some.

The drooping flowers of aquilegia (columbine) look very cute. Blue aquilegia (Aquilegia caеrulea) is a spreading bush 40-50 cm with large, bluish-green leaves and soft bluish-lilac drooping flowers (winter-hardy to -40 degrees). Aquilegia fan (A.flabellata) has varieties with pure white, blue-white or solid blue flowers. Common aquilegia (A. vulgaris) has very decorative varieties with white, pink or purple flowers (hardy to -35 degrees).

Everyone's favorites are also the peach-leafed bells (Campanula percisifolia) and the crowded bells (C. glomerata), which bloom in early summer with characteristically shaped blue-violet flowers (zones 3-8). Very similar is Platycodon grandiflorus, which also has tall and compact, blue, pink and white varieties. In a natural garden there must be a place for everyone’s favorite daisies. This could be chamomile (Matricária recutita) or yellow chamomile (Anthemis tinctoria), or different varieties of garden flower (Leucanthemum maximum, Chrys.leucanthemum).

If you have plenty of sunny space for your wild garden, surprise your guests with luxurious eryngium bushes (our endemic is E. planum, but others are much more beautiful species - alpine(E. alpinum), amethyst (E. amethystinum), etc.) or Echinops sphaerocephalus.

They will complete the picture and create a wonderful carpet under the canopy. tall plants often found in our gardens and parks, on the edges of deciduous forests, ivy leaf (Clechoma hederacea), May lily of the valley (Convalaria majalis), small periwinkle (Vínca mínor), European hoofweed (Ásarum europaéum), hollow corydalis (Corydalis cava). Also suitable for this are Duchesnea indica, Ajuga reptans, Lamium galeobdolon and Tiarella cordifolia.

Instead of a traditional lawn in a natural garden, you can arrange a so-called lawn, which is a motley mixture of various plants - cereals, annual and perennial flowers, and even bulbous ones, reminiscent of a natural flowering meadow. Often, instead of cereal grasses, the basis of a “Moorish lawn” can be made up of plants from the legume family, for example, creeping clover, white clover (Trifolium repens) and horned grass (Lotus corniculatus), which blooms with yellow flowers. Lyadvenets is able to grow on poor, dry soils, but at the same time tolerates short-term waterlogging. Creeping clover develops normally on soils of varying moisture and fertility in a wide pH range. Both plants are light-loving. A wide range of annual and perennial plants can be included in the grass mixture.

If your site is very sunny, you cannot do without drought-resistant perennial and aromatic plants, such as: speedwell (Veronica spicata), deltoid carnation (Dianthus deltoides), hybrid yarrow (Achillea hybride), oak sage (Salvia nemorosa), veined catnip ( Nepeta nervosa), fassen catnip (Nepeta x faassenii) and many others. Cereals, even varietal ones, fit perfectly into the “wild garden” in any combination and quantity.

Plants of the “wild garden” are very unpretentious and require virtually no intervention from you if the right place is chosen for them. However, such a garden still needs care; you will have to remove excess self-seeding, control that some plants do not suppress or crowd out others, and trim dry leaves and faded stems. Of course, your creation will become a real “natural” garden only after a few years, when the plants acquire their normal size, self-seeding or moss appears among the stones, and the boundaries of the groups are erased. You should be patient. One thing is certain: creating a “wild garden” will give you great pleasure even at the stage of planning and direct work, and even more so then you will be able to fully enjoy your holiday in your man-made corner of nature

Victoria Roy
landscape designer
especially for the Internet portal
garden center "Your Garden"