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Wrake & Root

🌿Wildlife friendly gardener, covering Bristol and North Somerset 🌿

17/07/2026

The Three Sisters 🌽🫘🎃

This year was my first time trying out the Three Sisters planting method, and it’s one of my favourites.
It’s an ingenious companion planting technique developed by Indigenous peoples of North America.

🌽 Sweetcorn grows tall, providing a natural support for climbing beans.
🫘 Beans climb the corn while fixing nitrogen from the air into the soil, helping to feed neighbouring plants.
🎃 Squash or pumpkins spread across the ground, acting as a living mulch. Their large leaves help shade the soil, reducing water loss, suppressing weeds and keeping roots cooler during hot weather.

It’s a wonderful example of working with nature rather than against it, with each plant supporting the others in different ways. Companion planting like this can improve biodiversity, make better use of space and create a more resilient growing system.

A brilliant reminder that gardens thrive on relationships, not just individual plants.

09/07/2026

Sensory gardens 🌿
A recent garden task was giving this beautiful tangle of jasmine and honeysuckle some care and attention.
These two climbers had become intertwined over time, so a gentle tidy has helped them breathe, flower and continue filling the garden with such amazing scent.

I love that gardens aren’t just something to look at, they can engage all of the senses.

Sensory gardens don’t have to be large or complicated. Sometimes it’s as simple as planting something fragrant near a doorway, window or seating area, where you can enjoy it every day.

08/07/2026

Teasel ❤️
Often overlooked as a “weed”, teasel is actually a wonderful native plant that brings so much life into the garden.
✨ Its tall architectural stems add structure and winter interest
🐝 The flowers provide nectar for pollinators during summer
🐦 The seed heads are a favourite food source for birds, especially goldfinches
🦋 It creates valuable habitat for insects and adds a natural, wild feel to planting schemes

07/07/2026

This gabion wall with a sedum roof is beautiful example of creating wildlife habitats alongside structure and interest.

04/07/2026

Wildlife gardens need a little wildness.

This patch of phacelia and borage on my allotment has become one of the busiest places there for lots of different pollinators.

It can be tempting to tidy every corner, but leaving space for nectar-rich flowers (particularly borage which refills quickly with nectar) is one of the simplest and most valuable things we can do for wildlife.

A pollinator patch doesn’t need to be large. Even a small area filled with plants that flower over a long season can provide food for bees, butterflies and hoverflies when they need it most.

As gardeners, we have the opportunity to create spaces that are not only beautiful for us, but genuinely beneficial for nature too. 💚

I’m passionate about designing gardens that work with wildlife, not against it, and sometimes the most beautiful part of a garden is the bit that’s allowed to be a bit wild.

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Pill
Bristol
BS200EB

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http://www.wrakeandroot.co.uk/

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