JESSICA EVES for her lovely garden entitled ‘Dream Land’. Jessica is in year 6 at Queensway Community Junior School in Thetford.

We were very impressed with the number of entries and the interest shown by the schools involved and a big well done to everyone who entered. All the entries were fantastic and it was great to see so many budding garden designers showing off their talents!

The winning school showed a particularly varied and interesting number of entrants with the teachers also being enthusiastic about the project  - one of their teachers even popped a note in with the entries saying how much they had all enjoyed working on their designs which was great to hear!

The winning garden was chosen due to the amount of thought that had not only gone into the design but also into the planting aswell. Tall trees softened at the edges by dense shrubs with woodland areas and flower rich meadows and grass areas leading to a pond with water lilies. All this surrounded by a natural, rustic path ensuring minimum disruptions to the creatures inhabiting the area.

This type of habitat would encourage a massive diversity of wildlife – even the taller tree species can provide an eco system of their own for the wildlfie that live in them including creating hunting grounds for Owls and other birds of prey whilst the woodland edge and shrubs create a habitat for small mammals and birds protecting them from potential predators.

The clover rich grassland will create seed for birds and provide cover for voles and invertebrates with the pond area being a rich source for pond life! The decaying log areas would create homes for all sorts of creepy crawlies thus providing a great food source for birds.

What particularly caught my eye about Jessica’s garden is that she had included a clover rich grass area which is extremely topical at the moment due to the reduction in Turtle Doves and other bird species that feed on clover. There has been much emphasis on promoting clover rich grassland and wild flower meadow habitats to redress the situation producing the diversity of seeds needed for wildlife to thrive.

Follow our progress on our blog as we turn Jessica’s design into reality in the next few weeks!

-Roger

And here it is – the winning design:

The winning wildlife garden design by Jessica Eves