Many gardeners feel pressure to keep their backyards looking prim and proper at all times. There's a never-ending list of things to prune, grass to mow, and flowers to thin out to ensure not a single leaf is out of place. But, have you considered what would happen if you just freed yourself of this obligation?
That's exactly the approach garden designers Bart Haverkamp and Pieter Croes favor when creating their signature wild urban gardens. The Belgium-based duo achieves the perfect wild gardening scheme by encouraging their clients to simply let go when crafting a wild garden and forget about the idea of things needing to look neat.
In their upcoming book, Wild Harmony (available to pre-order on Amazon), they showcase lush city garden spaces entirely transformed into something reminiscent of a natural environment, simply by allowing nature to do its thing.
With wild gardening being at the top of garden trends this year, I sat down with Pieter to discuss how exactly to achieve such a landscape in your backyard. His insights reveal it's less complicated than it seems and has a lot more to do with the mind than you might expect.
Wild gardening is achieved by letting go of control
'Being able to let things grow wild is a state of mind,' Pieter Croes tells me.
For many gardeners who have adopted formal garden approaches, there is a sense of garden guilt that arises from learning to let go when it comes to wild gardening. But, Pieter says it's all about coming to a realization that plants and nature have their own plans.
'As designer Vita Sackville-West encouraged, try to not prune your roses one year and see what happens,' he recommends. 'It's all about not wanting to control everything, just letting go, and only intervening when it becomes too much.'
Of course, there are some instances where it would be a pruning mistake to leave a plant alone, such as if it is damaged or experiencing disease. As a general rule, though, wild gardens best come together when you allow plants to grow as they would in a native, unmaintained habitat.
'Let your space become a natural environment,' Pieter urges. As the image above shows, Bart and Pieter create this sense of natural habitat in urban gardens by selecting lush trees and shrubs and letting them become full and take over a space.
It's as simple as shifting your mindset to appreciate plants as living things that grow and evolve, rather than being purely decorative and needing to be controlled to maintain a clean look.
A bonus of leaving your plants be is you'll spot more wildlife, too. Before you know it, your yard might even turn into a bit of a wildlife garden and haven for pollinators, birds, and more. You can even try sprinkling these wildflower seeds for pollinators from Amazon to encourage more visitors.
Only intervene when absolutely necessary
One misconception Bart and Pieter want to avoid is that letting your garden grow wild means never ticking off your spring gardening checklist and other important jobs throughout the year.
'This approach means minimal maintenance,' Pieter says. 'All you have to do is just take a walk around your garden and give some small attention to plants where it's needed,' he explains.
This means using essential pruning tools – like these bypass pruning shears from Amazon – to cut back plants where necessary, like if they're struggling from damage.
It's a soft approach that doesn't have a list of rules to follow. Instead, Pieter encourages using it as a moment of peace to observe your yard and make small tweaks to keep the space manageable.
The result will leave you with a garden bursting with life, full of thriving, happy plants growing unrestricted.
Wild Harmony highlights Bart and Pieterʼs signature style that lets nature take control of the space. It features over twenty of their recent projects, completed within the last decade, focusing primarily on urban gardens, rooftop spaces, terraces, and small plots highlighting what can be done with limited space and budget.
FAQs
Will my plants die if I don't prune them?
Plants will not necessarily die if they aren't pruned, but they could become weaker and face other issues. However, allowing plants to grow as they please without too frequent maintenance is a great way to achieve a wild garden in your yard.
Having said that, neglecting plants entirely would be a pruning mistake that can hinder their health. The best thing to do is research the requirements of the plants you're growing and strike a balance between doing the necessary jobs to keep them healthy and allowing them to thrive undisturbed.
One of the best things about rewilding is it can end up entirely unique. Whether you want a wildflower meadow or want to rewild your garden entirely, relinquishing control of your plants is the first step to take.