This is the 14th post about the transition of a piece of waste ground, with an assemblage of mostly wild native plants, into a designated wild garden. We move on another year to 2023. Following the drastic changes to this piece of ground last seen in September 2022, I deliberately did not walk past the site all of the next winter and spring. I was disappointed at what had been going on. I had thought that merely removing the rubbish and debris from the area, and mowing a path through it for access, would have been enough to create a beautiful visitor-friendly wild place for people to enjoy. Instead, it looked as if they had destroyed everything growing there (bar a few unhappy-looking larger plants) to be replaced by something else. It seemed a needless thing to do. The ground had being repeatedly dug over to remove the nettles and much else.
Then at the beginning of June this year, by chance, I met someone who helps out at the cricket club as a volunteer. They told me that there were lots of wild flowers now growing in the wild patch but nobody knew exactly what they were. Would I go and look and help to identify them? So, along I went. To my utter amazement there had been an absolute explosion of growth. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I started to make my list of the plant species present in the new wild garden. Here are some pictures of the general views that I took from 3-6 June before I went away on holiday.
Jessica's Nature Blog 
Hooray! How do you think the new garden will compare with the old so far?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Brilliant. And it looks lovely!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, in some ways it is an improvement but it is very much a work in progress and not at all straightforward, as you will discover.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you, gtgail.
LikeLike
This is quite a suspenseful story.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I thought this was the happy ending, but it’s to be continued. 😬 Well, I’m looking forward to seeing what shall happen next. 😁 By the way, Jessica, have you ever considered writing thrillers? 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, I am afraid it’s a long drawn out saga. That is for two reasons. The first being that the way the garden develops is a slow process with many decisions needing to be made along the way about how it is perceived by various parties and the way it could be managed. It can be problematical to manage expectations for a wild garden in this location, and to balance the needs and outcomes. The ways of managing a wild garden depend on what a person’s view of such an entity might be. If you want the maximum advantage for wildlife it can look very messy compared with a proper garden. And not everyone likes that. The second reason for the slow unfolding of the story is that I am busy with another long-term project undertaking a baseline survey of the village Nature Area so my time for blogging is rationed.
LikeLiked by 1 person