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A wildlife garden (or wild garden) will usually contain a variety of habitats that have either been deliberately created by the gardener (eg, ponds to attract frogs, newts, toads, dragonflies; nesting box es for birds and solitary bees, hedgehogs or certain insects; log pile s to provide shelter for lizards and slow worms; planting beneficial insect attractant plants including wildflowerA wildflower is a flower not intentionally seeded or planted. Yet "wildflower" meadows of a few mixed species are sold in seed packets. The term "wildflower" has been made vague by commercial seedsmen who are interested in selling more flowers or seeds mo meadows, etc), or allowed to self-establish by minimising maintenance and intervention.

Many organic gardeners are sympathetic to the philosophy of wildlife gardening, and will usually try to incorporate some aspects of the wild garden into their own plots in order to both act as a means of biological pest controlBiological control of pests and diseases Overview A key belief of the organic gardener is that diversity furthers health. The more variety a landscape has, the more sustainable it is. The organic gardener therefore works to create a system where the insec, as well as for its value in promoting biodiversityBiodiversity or biological diversity is a neologism and a portmanteau word, from bio and diversity. It is the diversity of and in living nature. Diversity, at its heart, implies the number of different kinds of objects, such as species. However, defining and generally benefitting the wider environmentAn environment is a complex of external factors that acts on a system and determines its course and form of existence. An environment may be thought of as a superset, of which the given system is a subset. An environment may have one or more parameters, p.

Choice of plants

Although some exotics may also be included, the wild garden will usually predominantly feature a variety of native species. Generally these will be a part of the pre-existing natural ecologyEcology is the branch of science that studies the distribution and abundance of living organisms, and the interactions between organisms and their environment. The environment of an organism includes both its physical habitat, which can be described as th of an area, but managed in a way that is enhanced rather than damaged by the process of cultivation. As in other forms of gardening, aesthetics plays a central role in deciding what is 'right', but constraints regarding issues such as seed provenance also apply. Wild gardens are by definition examples of water-wise gardening, as the natural species of any ecoregion or micro-climate are those optimal for local water supplies.

There are a few super-beneficial plants that bloom for a long time, and yield abundant nectar and pollen. These plants, such as the Joe-Pye weed at right, support a whole community of beneficial insects and small vertebrates.