Guild Design

Design a plant guild — a community of mutually beneficial plants that support each other.

A guild typically includes:

• Central element (e.g. fruit tree)
• Nitrogen fixers (clover, beans, lupins)
• Dynamic accumulators (comfrey, yarrow)
• Ground covers (strawberry, clover)
• Pest confusers (aromatic herbs)
• Pollinators attractors (flowering plants)

Steps:

1. Choose the central element
2. Research companion plants for your climate
3. Select plants for each guild role
4. Plan spacing and layering (canopy, understory, ground, root, vine)
5. Consider succession — what grows first, what fills in later
6. Create a planting diagram
7. List materials and quantities needed