The country may be in lockdown but we hope that this month’s blog brings some joy to your day as we take a look at a special project in Gloucestershire.
Cotswold garden design specialists, Graduate Gardeners recently sent us through some thoroughly delightful images of a recent project, and we thought them too good not to share.
With over 40 years’ experience, Graduate Gardeners are a multi award-winning garden design, construction and landscaping company situated near Stroud and working predominantly throughout Gloucestershire.
Based on a two acre site in Bisley, the Graduate Gardeners team provide a full range of garden services including garden design, construction and landscaping.
The project in question is a long-running one, with Graduate Gardeners working with their client to transform an orchard area and garden surrounds on land located in a rural position south-west of Stroud.
Split into phases over several years, the first phase saw Graduate Gardeners trialling Wildflower Turf in a smaller area closer to the client’s main garden, whilst the orchard area itself was seeded. The seeded area established adequately and provided colour throughout the season. However, it was not as successful as the trial patch of Wildflower Turf!
Following the trial, the clients concluded that they wanted the entire orchard area laid with Wildflower Turf. However, due to prolonged dry weather in the spring and early summer of 2018, Graduate Gardeners held off from laying the turf, instead periodically spraying the area with glyphosate to suppress the weed growth and to create a stale seed bed.
The need to fast-forward the project arose when the client’s daughter announced her wedding, with the client’s garden nominated as the wedding venue. Therefore, it was imperative that the Wildflower Turf was laid in the early spring of 2019 to ensure that the garden would be ready for the planned July 2019 nuptials.
The client’s rural locale added some challenges to the project. Access to the orchard area itself was via a field and the lane to the client’s house was narrow. A forklift was used to transport the turf following delivery and the ruts in the field had to be re-instated as the weather was not favourable at the time.
Once in position, 500m2 of Wildflower Turf Landscape Turf was laid with the resulting summer meadow providing an idyllic backdrop to the summer wedding.
From a landscaping perspective, Graduate Gardeners have found that utilising Wildflower Turf has helped to solve many problems. In terms of establishment, Wildflower Turf has many advantages over seeding, not the least being that there is less reliance on the client’s ability and willingness to maintain their meadow in its infancy.
From a design aspect, Wildflower Turf has allowed Graduate Gardeners to think differently in terms of how they design and allows for the creation of more movement in their larger garden projects. Rather than worrying about installing huge flower borders (alongside associated installation and maintenance costs), these areas can be replaced with a wildflower meadow interspersed with trees and shrubs that are allowed to reach their full potential without having to be pruned or trimmed to size.
And finally, the ability to lay Wildflower Turf directly onto sub-soil further assists with cost reduction. Another recent Graduate Gardeners project involved moving hundreds of tonnes of subsoil, with much of it retained to create level areas on the client’s steeply sloping site. Around 1500m2 of Wildflower Turf was laid, negating the need to undertake the costly exercise of importing topsoil and then planting with shrubs and herbaceous plants.
If you are a landscape professional and would like to see your own Wildflower Turf project featured in our blog, please drop us a line at: wildflower@wildflowerturf.co.uk.