Create a meadow or woodland in your own backyard

With the right plant varieties and know-how, you can transform your backyard into a meadow or woodland oasis.

Your own woodland garden should match the conditions found in a natural wooded site.

• It should have shaded protection from the summer sun, rich, moist soil, and dappled sunlight in spring, which is the biggest bloom time for woodland flowers.

To provide it, work compost or leaf mold into planting pockets before setting out plants.

Increase sunlight by removing low branches from trees. Although woodland flowers need shade, they grow best in light, dappled shade rather than deep shade.

The popularity of shade gardening has led to huge improvements in woodland wildflowers, such as heuchera, foamflower, wild geranium and many other species.

• If you have the room, include shrubs such as native azaleas and serviceberry, as well as small trees like redbud, dogwood and witch hazel.
• Trim the edges with spring-flowering bulbs, which often thrive in sites that get sun in the winter and shade in the summer.

A meadow is a sunny area that supports a profusion of wildflowers along with a few grasses, which hold the soil in place and deter unwanted weeds.

• Transforming a pasture or area of lawn into a meadow takes time, but if you start small and implement your plans over a period of several years, you can create a beautiful meadow that's easy to maintain with yearly mowing.

• Prepare the area in the fall by cultivating the soil, raking out debris and sowing seeds of wildflowers native to your area, along with colourful annual wildflowers.
• Set aside one-third of your seeds and oversow the area first thing in spring.
• Include pathways throughout the meadow.

Throughout the first year, patrol the area often and nip out weeds.

• Instead of pulling them, which will disturb tiny wildflower seedlings, cut them off at ground level and toss the foliage into the paths.
• Fill open spaces with additional wildflower seeds, purchased seedlings or rooted cuttings of native perennial wildflowers.
• In the fall, mow the area high, rake up the debris and compost it. Sow additional seeds in thin areas.

• Weed often through the second year and expect to see plenty of colour from year-old perennial plants.
• Continue filling gaps with seeds and delay mowing until spring so that seeds shed by mature wildflowers will have a chance to grow.

• Fine-tune your meadow by adding plants you like and taking out those you don't like.
• Expect to see plenty of wildlife, including birds, butterflies and huge populations of native pollinating insects.