Hello Diane, What about introducing some buxus balls planted either into the soil or potted.. Clusters or other arrangements are fabulous.. If you are good at tending to them fairly regularly they should be easy to maintain! Then you can introduce bee friendly plants and herbs like Rosemary which is easy to pot and also comes in "standard" or otherwise known as Lollypop trees. Bee's love these and they have little blue flowers in spring.. Perhaps consider the bay tree too? These all tend to look after themselves and require only a bit of pruning to keep their shapes the female bay has little yellow/white flowers.. If you get sun then Olive trees are also beautiful.. Other climbing plants like Clematis and or some Roses.. Consider how you want to arrange these.. Round the home, garden area in rows and or clusters. To attract wildlife.. consider a bird feeder like this.. open and easy for a couple of birds to feed... I have about 3 of these.. I also put food on a small wooden slatted side table which the squirrels like.. Maybe consider a composting area and or some hedgehog nest boxes, bird boxes hidden in any climber on a fence for example.. Keeping some degree of natural areas like soil and some overgrown areas with some ivy or other climbing plants.. Keeping any hedging trimmed which promotes more dense growth.. Birds love this and other areas they can build nests in.. Tree's and or plants with berries.. I also have a fire pit/bbq which I let fill with water... It's like a drinking hole and a bird bath and the birds and squirrels love it... Oh and I have one plant suggestion for winter! Witch Hazel! It's like a bursting display of fireworks.. There are many varieties all with different colours.. but this I think is spectacular! So a few ideas which you may like.. You may want to consider a cherry blossom and or other small tree with lovely flowers.. Things to consider are light and soil although.. I have found a good all round compost works beautifully and I have all the above trees in large teracotta pots! (apart from the W.H which I'm waiting for. : ))

I can tell you what works for me. I feed sunflower hearts in the hanging feeders and there isn’t a bird who doesn’t love them! Mixed seed is no where near as popular. I also put sunflower hearts on my flat bird table along with sultanas, which the blackbirds love. I no longer feed on the floor due to naughty rats. I have a bird bath and change the water daily. I also find fat balls are popular, as are scraps of wholemeal or seeded bread and chopped apples. I have a huge shrub near the feeders which the birds love and it makes them feel secure. My feeders are only about 5 feet from my patio doors and it doesn’t bother the birds. In fact I can be sitting in the garden and the birds still come, but our house is quiet with no kiddies. Best place to buy sunflower seeds at a good price is either Home Bargains or Wilkinson’s. Sultanas (or any dried fruit) I get from Morrison’s Savers range. This is my feeding station.

Trees are a wonderful addition to a garden. Ones I particularly like are Sorbus, Cornus kousa, Dwarf Apricot (Prunus), Amelanchier. They grow to 10-20 feet. Best to plant them away from the fence lines otherwise they will spread across to your neighbours garden which isn’t always welcome. If you want the correct eventual height then go to the RHS website as they are more truthful about plants heights unlike some sellers. Some shrubs can grown to 8-10 feet so worth considering. Things like Cotinus, Viburnum tinus (E) Hibiscus, Syringa, Photinia (E) and Ceanothus (E) but there are loads. E denotes evergreen.

Hi, all those walls and fences need some shrubs/climbers to cosy it up, Good climber’s that I’ve used is Climbing Hydrangea - it self clings so you won’t need trellis or wires for it to attach to. Clematis are good (Montana are spring flowering and very vigorous) and needs trellis or wires to climb up, or triangular obelisk’s for the smaller species, for them to climb up. Another popular climber is Star Jasmine, evergreen and fragrant but it’s 100% hardy, mine died last winter. Roses are wonderful and newer species have less diseases than the older varieties. Climbing ones are a great option and not as vigorous as Rambling Roses. David Austins do some beautiful ones - I’ve ordered mine online and they were in very good condition, and there’s lots of advice on their website. You can then underplant your shrubs with perennials like Geraniums - Rozanne is a lovely lilac blue and very hardy. Statuary is personal taste but there are tons to choose from. Best to nestle them amongst the greenery. Also water features can be bought ready to go, just add water and plug in. They come with long electric cables unless you get a solar powered one. Primrose sell some nice ones. Bird baths are lovely and the birds will be very grateful on a hot day. They even bath in winter. Apart from plants, statuary and mirrors and garden artwork all add to the cosiness as well as seating and tables - Dunelm have some very reasonable priced garden furniture. Also an outdoor rug will add cosiness and they cope with being left in the rain and soon dry out. Here’s some plant ideas