Climate change and the diminishing of wildlife species are of very real concern. Therefore we were delighted to hear from our customer Luke from GrowN22 C.I.C. He has designed a wildlife garden to fight both of these things.

Luke is one of the founders of GrowN22. It is an organisation that was set up to transform disused and neglected spaces across Haringey into vibrant community gardens. He has used a variety of our decorative aggregates in this fantastic project.

Luke’s specialty as a gardener is wildlife and rockery style gardens. It has been through his work at various client gardens, green spaces, parks, and via campaign work with the National Park City that he has built up a good understanding of plants and garden design.

This spurred him to look into redesigning his own garden with a view to creating a space not only to escape and relax, but to fight climate change. Luke spent around 6 months researching rockeries, cave systems, biodiversity and planting methods in order to create his wildlife friendly space.

The Garden’s Structure

Gabion stone creates the structure of the garden. The area has been leveled with eleven different shelf areas for planting alpines. The rockery has been created using our Longstone Rockery Stone, old rubble and chicken wire. These elements also construct an underground cave system for wildlife. The rockery stone and rubble also form a pondless water fall feature using a solar pump. Luke also added an old chimney pot to the build. This is surrounded by stone, including our Green Slate 40mm.

Luke’s wildlife garden also features a hedgehog superhighway, insect motels, pollination spots and vertical planters. A colourful skull creates a mini skull mountain that draws the eye. His aim was to design something aesthetically pleasing as well as to create a unique biodiverse area in the garden for wildlife and insects.

Many plants that were used were donated. Although Luke didn’t have a planting guide, once placed, they perfectly complement one another. Our Black Basalt 10mm forms the main surface cover for the garden. This pulls all elements of the garden design together.

We first heard from Luke last year after he oversaw the creation of a wildlife pond at Westbury Banks Nature Reserve. This was a resident lead community project and a Noel Park Big Local initiative. His contribution to this development along with other GrowN22 projects, inspired the design of this amazing biodiverse nature garden.

Our video below gives you an exclusive tour of this fantastic biodiverse wildlife garden.

If you would like us to feature YOUR garden on our blog, please email laura@stonewarehouse.co.uk for details.