h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Smashing article and broadly helpful. I am planning a wildflower garden with big pond. I am a little stuck...
The area I want to use as a meadow has a few fruit trees in it, apple plum and some unidentified. I want to keep the trees and am hoping to have a wildflower meadow around these trees but if the soil condition needs to deteriorate for the sake of the woild flowers will the trees suffer?

I shouldn't think so, I think that fruit trees will benefit the meadow in various ways, but I'm not a gardener by trade, only for fun.
I'm going to send some professionals over to double check for you.

Just call it "the orchard" instead of the meadow and that'll be fine.

If the trees are happy now, despite the current mat (presumed) of grass around them, then I don't think that nutrient supply is a problem.

But there are two obvious snags with the plan

Firstly, if there is significant tree cover, then the 'standard' meadow flowers (ragged robin, corncockle, poppies etc etc) don't have a prayer of competing with the shade lovers, and in practice (depending on soil type etc) your understorey will become briar, nettle, couch grass and willow herb. It will look like just another deeply unloved orchard.

Secondly, there is to me a fairly severe style problem. The orchard, the meadow, and the village pond are such familiar and traditional parts of our countryside, and so very, very different in atmosphere, that mixing them is somewhat like building a red brick extension on a Tudor cottage. It just won't look right.

Have you considered a woodland garden, B ? Extend the tree planting with a couple of flowering cherries and crabapples, a stand of silver birch for height contrast, and a cool underplanting of spring bulbs, ferns and foxgloves. Also, a pond could fit into this very pleasingly, I think.