DANIEL COMBES GARDEN DESIGN
DESIGNING WITH NATURE
With a background in ecology and recognising the need to restore habitats, we have been working with clients to plant woodlands, create wildflower meadows, and adopt a light-touch management plan on parts of their property.
Our planting design has evolved, where possible, to mimic the structure of natural plant communities.
We are also interested in both traditional and alternative building techniques, always showing a preference for locally sourced materials and constantly seeking alternatives to cement.
wildflower
We have spent the last 5 years designing and installing wildflower meadows across the UK in many different contexts with varying degrees of success. Learning from these experiences we feel excited to offer clients a focused meadow consultation and installation service.
The generation of wildflower meadows can require some significant upfront intervention to give ourselves the best chance of long-term success. Management of these meadows is as important as installation.
There are also instances when wildflower meadows are not appropriate for a particular site, and we take pleasure in designing alternative solutions.
river restoration
We are currently working on a project where we are reconnecting a canalised river to its original flood plane. Extreme weather events have led to flooding in and around our clients property. This solution carries water away from the house but restores a wetland and all its associated biodiversity.
Ecological restoration
Our understanding of re-wilding is grounded in ecology. Succession is the process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time. If you preclude herbivores (deer / sheep) from a grassland, brambles and sub-shrubs will gradually colonise the ground turning grassland to scrubland. In turn these act as nurseries for seedling trees which will eventually rise above the shrubs creating a close canopy woodland.
This is, of course, an over-simplification. Soil type, climate, and other disturbances influence the final makeup of a climax community. However, we believe, that by removing ourselves as the central agents of change and allowing ecosystem processes to flourish we can create healthy, biodiverse habitats without the need for large expenditures of energy.
