Photography by Jim Powell, except where noted.
The rewilding project at Knepp, a farming estate in Sussex, England, has been well-documented, first with c0-owner Isabella Tree’s best-selling eco-memoir, Wilding—and now with her new book, The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding Big and Small.
Are you a beaver, or a bison?
For anyone coming to grips with just mowing their lawns less frequently it can be disquieting when a gardener says You are the bison What they are trying to tell you is that in the absence of keystone species roaming herbivores it is up to...
...us to create optimal conditions for biodiversity with our own periodic disturbance roughing up terrain and making inviting pockets for habitat spreading seeds as an animal would in their hooves and fur interrupting the impulse of trees to grow up into a closed canopy forest
Not the first time that weeds were shown at the Chelsea Flower Show, but the way they were used was an unforgettable piece of theater.
It is not inherently green to build an intricate edifice for one week, only to take it down again, but the show has always sparked an almost out-of-proportion national dialogue—in this case, a debate over the merits of a slice of landscape around a beaver dam.
An hideout for nature watching, with a boardwalk over the wilderness in the Rewilding Britain garden. Step away from the garden center; instead, swap seeds and plants, and instead of buying birdhouses shaped like beach huts, grow shrubs for habitat and shelter.
Unglamorous comfrey, a British native that is highly attractive to solitary bees and pollinators of all kinds. One criticism of the rewilding movement is its methods, in which fauna species take priority over flora.
An expertly planted mess of hawthorn, hazel, and alder providing shade to a wetland of country flowers. It is tempting to fixate instead on the idea of wolves being set loose on our streets, since predators are key to biodiversity function.
Riparian planting that includes the flowers of marsh valerian. Knepp is open for stays and safaris, since its success needs to be seen to be believed.
Photograph by Caitlin Atkinson.
Rewild your window box, if not your estate.