Wildlife Gardening Books by Jenny Steel

These books are all available to order by post.  Click on 'order here' to take you to the printable order form.  This can be filled in and sent by post together with your cheque.  Book dispatch is usually within 2 working days using second class post.

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A natural wildlife garden in the middle of the Herefordshire countryside sounds idyllic, and indeed it is.  Yet this way of gardening and what it represents is available to everyone no matter where you live.  Wildlife gardening is all about making choices - choosing to provide a safe, chemical free habitat for your local wildlife wherever and whatever that may be, where food and shelter are available all year round. And the wildlife in our city and town gardens benefits even more from this approach to gardening than in a plot in the depths of the countryside. Whether you live in the centre of Leeds or the outskirts of Norwich, wildlife habitat is becoming scarce and impoverished.  Everything you do to bring your garden to life will be of immense benefit to the mammals, birds, amphibians and invertebrates in your area.  Wildlife gardening is one really important way of appreciating what we still have and ensuring that there will always be some sort of habitat for our native wildlife, as countryside continues to disappear under tarmac and concrete, in spite of the best efforts of many people.  So by making your garden into a refuge for wildlife you could be contributing to the survival of some of our most precious species.  The team at Wiggly Wigglers, with their dedication, enthusiasm and enlightened thinking have created a very special garden.  But not so special that you couldn’t do it too.

This book, in the Gardening with Nature Series, is a larger format than the previous GwN books, with colour photographs throughout.  It contains information on growing wildflowers in every situation in the garden, with recommended plants, advice on growing from seed and lists of suppliers. 98 pages with over 100 colour pictures throughout, some of them full page, this book will tell you everything you need to know about growing wildflowers in your garden, from sowing seeds to the wildlife they will attract. 

There are chapters on suitable wildflowers for sunny borders, growing in grass, shady spots and wilder areas to name a few.

It contains sections on good plants, the wildlife you can expect and maintenance as well as the importance of ponds in our countryside and towns are all included.

Are your children interested in the wildlife in your garden?  This Usborne book, for which Jenny was a advisor, is available from this website.  Suitable for age 5+ it is fun, informative and beautifully illustrated.    Hardback, small format, 64 pages and colour illustrations and photographs throughout.

As wildlife gardening becomes more popular, many gardeners are planting wildflowers in their gardens to attract butterflies, bees and many other types of insect.  This booklet lists over 140 wildflowers that are suitable for garden cultivation, giving their flowering time, colour, height, conditions the plant prefers and most importantly, what insects (or birds) the plant attracts.

The third in the Plants for Wildlife Series, this book list 70 native trees, shrubs and climbers suitable for garden cultivation.  It gives information on their height, the soil conditions they prefer, whether they have flowers or berries and most importantly, what wildlife they attract.

Other recommended Wildlife Gardening Books

This booklet, produced by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust  contains excellent information about how to attract bumblebees to your garden by growing the flowers they feed on (both wildflowers and garden flowers), providing nest sites for them and creating a wildflower meadow in your garden.

The information about their preferred flowers plus excellent pictures and details about the decline of bumblebees in our countryside all helps us to better understand their requirements and hopefully help them in our own gardens.  Highly recommended.