A few years ago I made the decision to create a wild flower garden within my existing garden. I had been working to develop a more earth friendly approach to my garden, trying different options for fertilizing and pest and weed control. The next logical step for me was to establish a wild flower or natural style garden.

I was new to this and thought that this particular section of my yard would require little work. After all, if these flowers grow wild without any human help then I had found the ultimate "no maintenance" garden...right. Wrong. As I researched, I learned that I had to design my wild flower garden to take account of soil type, light and moisture.

However, I also found that if you are prepared to learn from nature, it becomes a delightful journey with guaranteed success, after all, mother nature has been growing flowers and trees since time began.

If you are considering a natural wild flower garden, remember for success you need to work with your local environment and choose plants that will thrive in those conditions. Again, learn from nature, check out local forests, meadows and parks. What kind of wild flowers grow there and just as important, exactly where are they growing, under trees, out in full sun, between rocks or at the edge of a pond.

Your garden can be anything you want, a full wild flower garden or a garden within your existing garden, it can have a simple mulch path with a small bench for sitting, or elaborate brick walks and walls, water feature and lighting. The amount of work involved is determined by size and layout.

You can start your garden from wild flower seed or plants but whichever you choose, for a successful garden you need to plan and prepare and then plant.

This is the first of a series of articles on how to plan, design and grow a wild flower garden.