Humble Bee Farm’s latest venture will be one that will cause you to pause, think and reflect.
We’ve moved our play area lower down the site and in its place, we’ll soon have our sensory Wildlife Reflection Garden.
Our garden designer Paul Taylor is working hard in the hot summer weather preparing the ground. Paul’s preparation work including areas for a path and a board walk. Other areas that are now underway include the bog garden, and ultimately, there will be a broad selection of trees, shrubs and flowering plants.
What is a Reflection Garden?
With Humble Bee being such a tranquil place, we thought a Reflection Garden would be the perfect addition to our pretty farm walks, our little duck pond and the surrounding pastures.
The Reflection Garden is a place where you can sit peacefully and think about someone or something that is important to you … or think about nothing at all.
Birds of a Feather
As we are so lucky with the variety of birdlife here at Humble Bee Farm, our new Reflection Garden is set to include a bird garden including a bird bath, bird feeders and bird tables so all our favourite feathered friends can visit us.
We often seen corn buntings, robins, blue tits, chaffinches, sparrows and more, and they all love a tasty snack.
If You Love Trees …
Then we’ve got that covered, too!
Trees are so important to Mother Nature, and the species you’ll see in our Reflection Garden will include rowan, crab apple and elderberry.
Their leaves will change colour as the farming year keeps turning.
Watch out for scarlet berries in the autumn, bare yet complex branches in winter and fresh green leaves in the spring.
Insect Garden
Being located in our rural spot, we get visited by lots of important insects on our working farm.
Insects are crucial for lots of reasons: pollination is one of them.
Paul will plant many difference species that will attract butterflies, bees and other nectar-loving insects.
He will construct log piles to given shelter to a number of different insect families.
Wall Garden
Wall gardens encourage climbing plants and add height to what can be an otherwise flat garden area.
Paul will be planting favourites such as fragrant roses, honeysuckle, clematis and will be fan training shrubs. There will be nesting places for birds and insects, and the shrubs will include cotton easter to give structure and other elements to enable frogs, toads, dragonflies and damsel flies to visit our Reflection Garden.
It’s a Bit Boggy
Bog gardens are all the rage and they are a haven to reptiles and hedgehogs!
Once Paul has created the bog garden, be sure to look out for tall bull rushes, ornamental rhubarb, elegant flag irises, gunner and other flowering plants.
Bog gardens are also loved by bees and butterflies and a number of invertebrates.
You might hear the soft croaking noises of frogs and toads at certain times of year.
One of our own favourite creatures is a hedgehog, with its prickly spines and cute little nose. The bog garden should attract a few Mrs Tiggywinkles as they snuffle around the Reflection Garden.
The Different Seasons
Paul has chosen the flora, fauna and foliage so our Reflection Garden contains different colours, textures and fragrances throughout the year.
There will also be sandstone paths, timber arches and a boardwalk, giving access throughout the garden so you can enjoy a truly immersive reflective experience.
When Will It ‘Bee’ Ready?
Rather like a good bottle of wine, a garden gets better with age.
Our Wildlife Reflection Garden will be ready later this summer and if you keep staying with us here at ‘the place to bee’, then you will see our Reflection Garden during all four seasons of the year.
We would like to thank Paul Taylor for all his hard work so far and for the amazing ideas he’s come up with for this truly special part of Humble Bee Farm.
