Small Naturalistic Urban Woodlands
Planting small naturalistic woodlands to benefit our wellbeing and that of the world around us
Right habitat right place and why I value woodlands
This blog will explore some current thinking on small, naturalistic urban woodlands and their benefits. Just as it’s always a case of ‘right plant right place’ in garden design it’s also a case of ‘right habitat right place’ as we need to find the most suitable habitats for any given site in order to attract the creatures that are most likely to be attracted there. For instance, if we are faced with a site that’s naturally boggy we would not think of installing a woodland. However, sometimes we come upon a site where woodland planting is just the right answer. When designing the landscaping around Lutyens House, the HQ for the Chartered Association of Building Engineers, I quickly suggested that naturalistic woodland planting was the most suitable type of planting for under the mature trees there, which were the only redeeming feature of their otherwise rather flat and empty landscape . Since someone long ago had the foresight to plant them there, and on this site there is virtually no biodiversity, the idea of enhancing what was there seemed an obvious starting point. Perhaps woodland planting is particularly attractive to me as I grew up in Highland Perthshire and return there several times a year with my family where we enjoy walking there. My London born husband, children and London bound dog love these walks! When you are brought up in the countryside it’s quite easy to take the nature of your surroundings for granted but having lived in cities for the last 30 odd years, but with the benefit of returning to beautiful countryside regularly, I now value the power of these surroundings to excite, uplift and soothe, not to mention the environmental benefits they bring. So how can we bring some of that benefit to urban environments?
Woodland walk in Dunkeld, Perthshire
What’s the definition of a Woodland?
Let’s start by defining a woodland. According to forestryresearch.gov.uk it is land under stands of trees with a canopy cover of at least 20%, which is what we’d expect – it’s an area of land with a good number of trees covering it. Secondly, how big does a bit of land need to be before it constitutes a woodland – well here is where it gets interesting. The National Forest Inventory England definition of a Woodland is a minimum area of 0.5 hectares (5000sqm) under stands of trees with the potential to achieve that 20% tree canopy cover, although The Woodland Trust recommend a canopy cover of 30% for new woodlands. Although the generally accepted view is that 5 acres (20,000sqm) is a good size for a woodland to create a decent amount of biodiversity, an effective woodland can actually be much smaller. According to the Woodland Trust, Woodland cover in the UK is now around 13.2% or 3.2 million hectares but the bit that interests me as a garden designer is the further 742,000 hectares of tree canopy cover that is recognised as small woodland. This actually represents almost 20% of the total tree canopy cover in the UK, which is spread throughout our towns and cities and is vital for wildlife. In fact, their Woodland Creation Guide takes Woodland as a broad term and can even apply to the planting of single trees.
Miyawaki Forests
In recent years there has been a huge amount of interest in Miyawaki Forests, which can be planted on an area as small as a tennis court. These are mini woodlands, grown from scratch, using the kinds of tree and plant species that would naturally occur in any given area, planted very close together . This method, developed by Akira Miyawaki in Japan in the 1980’s, creates a denser forest in less time (20 – 30 yrs) than leaving nature to take it’s course (150 – 200 yrs). Globally there have been more than 3000 Miyawaki forests planted to date and the biodiversity measured there has been recorded as being higher than neighbouring woodlands. Excitingly for me, Errol Fernandes, the head gardener at The Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, London, which is local for me, has planted one on their boundary with the south circular to mitigate the effects of the obvious car pollution. Some of the other known benefits of the Miyawaki method are that these mini forests can help control water, noise and soil pollution so they are particularly useful on degraded land, and while the degraded land part is not relevant in the lovely Horniman gardens, the water control and noise and aforementioned pollution control are. It’s early days in this photo taken in June t2022 so at present you can just see the density of saplings and the irrigation that’s been put in place. You can follow the progress of this project and many other exciting projects that Errol and The Horniman are putting in place to tackle climate change and challenge conventional horticultural thinking on Errol’s Instagram @errolreubenfernandes. Also, just newly planted in my local park, Ladywell Fields, is a ‘Tiny Forest’, also using the Miyawaki method and enabled by a number of partner organisations but primarily Earthwatch Europe. See www.tinyforest.earthwatch.org.uk for further details. I look forward to watching that grow!
Horniman Garden Miyawai Forest
Ladywell Fields Tiny Forest
Other Similar Schools of Thought
The Miyawaki method essentially replicates the situation that arises in an established woodland when a large tree falls and many saplings shoot up, competing for light. This process is enticingly described in ‘The Hidden Life of Trees’ by Peter Wohleben, which is a best selling book describing how woodlands work, how they can be naturally managed and also how trees communicate and even warn and protect each other from attack through an underground fungal network. I’d say this book is attractive to anyone not just the plant obsessed! In the Miyawaki method the idea of layering is also key, which has parallels with the work of the Sheffield School, where Nigel Dunnett and James Hitchmough propose using layering to create long lasting, climate resistant plantings. To explain layering in an easy to understand way, Nigel Dunnett explores it in design terms in his book ‘Naturalistic Planting Design’, relating plants to architectural terms (easy for me to get a handle on!) , where he describes trees as ‘Ceiling’, shrubs as ‘Walls’, and ground cover type planting such as perennials, grasses and low shrubs as ‘Floor’.
Using more traditional solutions in commercial locations
However, if you have grounds outside your premises and you don’t want to wait 20-30 yrs to see results, more traditional horticultural techniques can be employed. When designing the woodland area at Lutyens House I took much inspiration from ‘Designing and Planting a Woodland Garden’ by Keith Wiley, who’s own garden at Wildside is an amazing place of experimentation.
Wiley at Wildside | Vision, Landscaping, Planting and Risk Taking
At Lutyens House we will be planting perennials from pots and planting bulbs to create the new ground layer and some larger shrubs to give some immediate effect . I anticipate the new shrubby tree layer there taking a bit longer to look fully mature since only small saplings can be planted amongst the large and shallow existing tree roots. The idea of layering is still key, since under the large existing trees, smaller trees and shrubs have been introduced and then under those the carpet of ground covering perennials and spring bulbs, all planted with the expectation that they will naturalise and spread. The client there was particularly delighted that I advocated not tidying the leaves up but leaving them on the ground as a natural mulch, since a good part of their current landscaping expenditure consists of tidying leaves off lawn!
Benefits for our Wellbeing
Forest Bathing or ‘Shinrin-yoku’ is a term you hear around quite a lot these days and it refers to the benefits to your wellbeing of immersing yourself in the surroundings of a woodland or forest. According to the National Trust Website it is
‘a way of slowing down and relaxing the mind by being immersed among the trees. It can reportedly help to reduce blood pressure, lower stress levels and improve concentration’
They then suggest some good places to do just that in the UK. Follow this link to see their suggestions:
Forest bathing | Mindfulness | Woodlands | National Trust
How is this relevant to the space around commercial or public buildings?
So, perhaps you don’t have 5 acres. But perhaps you do have an existing stand of trees, similar to the situation I inherited at Lutyen’s House, or again you might have some empty land around your premises and would like to reduce pollution, increase biodiversity, lock up carbon, enhance the wellbeing of your staff and make a statement about how your organisation is proactively responding to the challenges posed by climate change. Please check out my article in ‘Building Engineer’ available to read on my LinkedIn Profile on how I will use the planting at Lutyens House to do just that and get in touch if you’d like to discuss your own project!
CABE Headquarters before work begins
Proposal for the CABE breakout garden surrounded by woodland planting