Log Pile Habitats: Beloved by Nigel Dunnett and Other Garden Designers
The artful log pile has become a frequent feature in designer schemes, from the increasingly wild gardens of the Chelsea Flower Show to heritage gardens and newly created private spaces. Placed in a cool, slightly shady spot, the pile will stay moist and provide a base for moss, ferns, and woodland plants which can be added directly into nooks and crannies. Photograph by Nigel Dunnett. Nigel Dunnett s log piles in autumn with a haze of Deschampsia as well as Euphorbia characias Wulfenii and rudbeckias But in winter... ...when the herbaceous plants die back the log stacks are revealed and become a valuable sculptural feature and a winter home to myriad species In deep winter, the forms are revealed. In 2021, the designer created sculptural log walls from biochar ash logs in his Yeo Valley Organic Garden. Photograph by Nigel Dunnett. Blackened ash logs in the Yeo Valley Organic Garden by Tom Massey at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Photograph by Britt Willoughby Dyer. Photograph by Clare Coulson. The wildlife-friendly log pile can become a platform for planting. At Tattenhall Hall in Cheshire, England, all the garden’s prunings are used in dead hedges or log walls. Photograph by Melissa Ozawa, from Habitat Piles: Turning Garden Debris Into Shelter and Sculpture. Landscape designer Edwina von Gal incorporates similar habitat piles into her designs. Taking planting right up to the piles creates more shelter and food for visiting wildlife. Photograph by Britt Willoughby Dyer. Neatly stacked woodpile create a sculptural feature.