As 2022 draws to a close, our final blog for the year is dedicated to…numbers!
With all of the (dare we say it) normality that this December has brought it is almost difficult to believe that we careered into the year and promptly fell straight into a lockdown. Yes, that’s right. That last lockdown we all endured was THIS year!
So our first number is 1…only one lockdown during the past twelve months. We are all thankful that Covid has retreated into the background. Wildflower Turf Ltd has been fortunate to weather the storm over the past few years and we are very grateful for the support of our customers and the dedication of our team. The lockdowns necessitated by Covid have heightened the importance of connecting with nature and green space – something we as a business are passionate about.
With 1 in 8 British households without a garden our public spaces are crucially important. Even more so when we reflect on the fact that we have lost 97% of our wildflower meadows since the 1930’s. Wildflower meadows are one of the rarest habitats in the UK and ultimately support our food chain.
We work closely with local authorities to help to mitigate and reverse these losses and, to date, we have supplied a total of 146 councils in the UK! But that’s not all. Our designated council-only training days have seen us work with 61 different councils to increase their knowledge of wildflower spaces.
The rewilding of road verges has continued to play an important role during the year, and Plantlife’s Road Verge Campaign has been instrumental in changing the way these wildlife habitats are managed. There are 238,000 hectares of road verges compared to just 85,000 hectares of surviving flower-rich grasslands and in many places where the devastation of meadows has been particularly severe, verges are the last remaining fragments of grassland where beautiful bluebells, snowdrops, primroses and wild orchids still can survive and prosper.
At last count, Plantlife’s Campaign has amassed an incredible 132,961 signatures and you can add your voice here.
Our Accredited Partner programme has continued to grow and evolve, and we now support over 300 partners within this network. We have shipped more turf this year than ever before…everything from 40m² right up to a whopping 15,832m² that was destined for a new Amazon data centre site in Swindon.
With additional growth comes the need for more sets of hands! Our team has grown, and we now have an incredible 29 staff, based across 3 production sites. We have turf beds in Hampshire, Yorkshire, and, during 2022, we added Shropshire to the fold. All sites were pleased to see the end of the recent cold weather. The 16th of December was our coldest day this year. Our Hampshire site saw a low of -6.9°C, Shropshire -9.1°C and our Yorkshire site got down to a chilly -9.3°C.
Despite a white Christmas not looking likely (if it DID happen, it would be the first white Christmas in the UK in 12 years) the team is looking forward to some well-deserved time off before we embark on another busy year.
Wildflower Turf Ltd will be closing for the Christmas holidays at 4.30pm on Thursday, 22nd December and will reopen again on Tuesday, 3rd January 2023.
From our family to yours, may the festive period be filled with peace and joy.
Merry Christmas!