Project Gallery
Lacewing Garden Design are proud to have worked with some great people to create wildlife-rich habitats for individuals and communities. Along the way we have established friendships from a like-mindedness to help protect and encourage more wildlife in to our gardens and other outdoor spaces. Below are some examples of our work.
Project 1: Suburban Wildlife Garden
Enhancing a traditional cottage-style back garden in Cambridgeshire.
The garden’s context
This garden already had some valuable features like a mature Russian Olive tree, a mature Ceanothus, some ivy-clad fence panels and cottage garden perennial borders (geraniums etc.) but it had greater potential for wildlife. It was quite a green and leafy neighbourhood with well-established gardens including a number of tree-lined roads. So in came a pond (with a ‘boggy' perimeter and amphibian ‘hibernaculum'), a stumpery, a log pile, an open compost bin/heap, a 'woodland floor’ (under the spreading Russian Olive), a rockery and a wildflower meadow!
The brief
Simply to create as many inter-connected habitats as possible to add more diversity and maximise wildlife gain.
Post-project highlights
Frogs and newts arrived to breed in the pond in its second year; a greater number and diversity of birds visited and nested in the garden; grasshoppers appeared that weren’t previously recorded; bees (solitary and social-types!) nested.
Project 2: Suburban Wildlife Garden
Transforming a traditional suburban back garden in Northamptonshire.
The garden’s context
This garden consisted mainly of a traditional, well-manicured mown lawn with unspectacular and fairly sparse flower borders (a fair number of non-native plants. There was also a significant amount of patio (concrete slabbing) relative to the garden’s size. The garden backed on to a (non-managed/neglected) ‘landscape buffer’ to an adjacent school that consisted of mature non-native trees, shrubs and ‘ruderal’ plants.
The brief
To create as many inter-connected habitats as possible to add more diversity and maximise wildlife gain. Space and budget allowed for a pond, a wildflower strip, a nectar border and an open compost heap.
Post-project highlights
Newts and frogs arrived to breed in the pond in the first and third years, respectively; a greater number and diversity of birds visited and nested in the garden; bank voles inhabited the log pile near the pond and foraged along the connected wildflower strip. Lesser stag beetles were found amongst the deadwood (log pile) habitat. Occasional visits by hedgehog not recorded pre-project.
Project 3: Primary School Garden
Remodelling a primary school garden in Cambridgeshire.
The garden’s context
This outdoor space already had a pond (without fish) albeit ornamental in shape and edge materials; also a nice native hedge on one side, plus a couple of raised beds. Open green (recreational) space adjacent in this village setting.
The brief
The brief was fairly generic - to give it a wildlife-friendly makeover and enhance the area as an educational and well-being resource for the children (and teachers). The plan in the first picture shows which habitats were either enhanced or created new.
Post-project highlights
Some lovely feedback was received from the school’s headteacher,
“The pupils at Castor School are already benefitting from the wildlife garden. They have written poems, been pond dipping and enjoyed learning about the new habitats that have been created. The children’s favourites are the hibernaculum, stumpery, marsh and the bug hotel! We are extremely grateful to the team for their generosity of time, skill and hard work in enhancing our outdoor learning environment in this way.”
