Are you all caught up on our very busy first six months of 2019? Excellent!
Read on to discover what the final months of the year held for the Wildflower Turf Ltd team.
July
You say July, we say Hampton Court! We once again supplied product to a number of RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival gardens, several of which were successful in winning medals.
We supplied the Thames Water Flourishing Future Garden with 70m² of Landscape Show Turf. Visitors to the garden were encouraged to consider how they could enhance biodiversity, reduce water use and prevent flooding in homes and community spaces. Designed by Tony Woods and built by Garden Club London, the Thames Water Flourishing Future Garden was awarded a Gold Medal.
Wildflower Turf Ltd also supplied 5m² of Species Rich Lawn Turf to the Calm Amidst Chaos garden. The garden drew awareness to the importance of creating peace and tranquility amid the potentially overwhelming modern world. A Silver Gilt medal winner and widely lauded, this garden was sponsored by Maytree House in London, which serves as a sanctuary for the suicidal.
Also in July was an opportunity to spend some time with our Accredited Partner members. We held an Accredited Partner Plus Day at our base near Basingstoke in Hampshire, although unfortunately many of our Accredited Partners were forced to miss this training session despite best intentions due to an incident on the M25 which caused traffic chaos! We did, however, have 24 of our Accredited Partners who managed to make it to the training day and we’re looking forward to running more of these events in 2020.
August
Wildflower Turf Ltd were thrilled to be involved with an episode of ‘Love Your Garden’ in August. Hosted by Alan Titchmarsh and airing on ITV, the ethos of the show is about enriching lives through the enhancement of outdoor space.
We donated 30m² of Native Enriched Show Turf to the programme and Alan and his team of experts surprised a fellow landscape gardener suffering early-onset Alzheimer’s by building him and his family a modern garden.
With a priority on ensuring that all family members had a suitable outdoor space to enjoy, the wildflower meadow provided an area of calm and reflection within the overall design of the garden. If you’ve not seen ‘Love Your Garden’ before, it is well worth a look.
September
Never one to rest on our laurels, September saw us launch not one, but two innovative new products.
After several years of research and product testing we announced the launch of Meadowscape Pro™, an enhanced growing medium used by landscape professionals for effective wild flower establishment. Enriched with Hydropor™ this specially developed formula supports good water percolation and retention and has also been used and approved by The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
The new Meadowscape Pro™ range consists of Meadowscape Pro™ Landscape 34, Meadowscape Pro™ Shade Tolerant, Meadowscape Pro™ Native Enriched, Meadowscape Pro™ Annuals, and Meadowscape Pro™ Species Rich Lawn.
In conjunction with the launch of Meadowscape Pro™ we also released Wildflower Turf Finisher, designed to fill joins, edges and small gaps in Wildflower Turf projects.
Suitable for application during or after the installation of Wildflower Turf, this complementary product (supplied in 20kg bags) can also be used to dress small bare patches that may have been created within a wild flower meadow design.
And as if two new products, AND an endorsement from The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew wasn’t enough, we only went and launched a new website! Slicker and speedier than ever and easier to use on mobile devices, do drop by and check out our new online look here.
And then it was time to ship the last of our Landscape 34 Show Turf for the year, which was delivered to enhance the area around the Clarence Court Eggs stand. The company was the main headline sponsor for the Royal County of Berkshire show which is held at the Newbury showground every year.
We also embarked on some green enhancement a little closer to home with the installation of our own Green Wall right here at Ashe Warren Farm. Constructed by two of our Accredited Partners (Rob Chivers of Urban Green Artists Ltd and Aidan Thompson of Sustainable Garden Solutions) four different types of turf have been pinned onto wooden frames and set at different angles in the office courtyard. We’re thrilled with our new addition and look forward to providing you with updates of our wall as the seasons ebb and flow.
And finally, as our commercial year draws to a close, we were excited to learn that the 2018-2019 financial year was our biggest year EVER. We love what we do and it’s thanks to our wonderful customers that we are able to continue to innovate and provide sustainable and bio-diverse landscaping solutions up and down the country.
October
October saw our very first shipment of turf to the Isle of Man. Our northern operation at Helperby shipped the initial batch of a planned 2,000m² of Native Enriched turf to the island with the turf being used to landscape none other than a quirky Hobbit-style home.
This month was also all about accreditation, with several accreditation days being run as a means of supporting our ever-growing network of Wildflower Turf Accredited Partners. In all, a total of 76 new Accredited Partners joined us this year and we’re delighted to have everyone on board.
Once again, we attended the SALTEX turf management show at the Birmingham NEC and boy were we were busy! So busy, in fact, that we forgot to take any pics!
November
Not content with the Isle of Man, we decided to try for global domination in November and shipped 850m² of Wildflower Turf Native Enriched to Denmark. This is the first order we’ve shipped to this fair country and it was ordered by Ebbe Dalsgaard A/S, a specialist landscaping business who have been trading since 1971.
Much excitement was evident this month with the news that a new MK4 lifting machine was on its way and our production team have been thrilled with their early Christmas present!
We also exhibited at Futurescape in November. The event, held at Sandown racecourse, is one we attend every year and we love renewing acquaintances while also meeting some new faces and talking all things wildflower.
December
With sleigh bells ringing (wait, I think that was actually the office phone) the team descended on the office en masse this month for our very own whodunnit. Without giving too much away (it was our new recruit Kat), our 1920’s Murder Mystery themed Christmas dinner was a roaring success and a great way to thank our team for their very hard work throughout the year.
And what better way to finish off 2019 than with a recruitment drive as we continue to add to our team. We’re currently looking for a Sales Manager to join us at our head office location near Basingstoke in Hampshire. Like to join us in 2020? You can apply here.
And so concludes our 2019 yearly wrap up. All that is left to say is to thank you for your support during the past twelve months and may we take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones a safe, happy and peaceful festive season. Merry Christmas!