Our clients tend to purchase wildflower turf for many different reasons, but when ‘Wildlife Kate‘ approached us we immediately understood her reasons for wanting to develop a wildflower area in her garden.
‘Wildlife Kate‘ aka Kate Macrae, has turned her passion for wildlife and role as an environmental education consultant into a fascinating project in her garden. Kate is a keen photographer and with her amazing pictures, she has started her brilliant wildlife blog, featuring all of the animals, insects and birds that come to visit her garden.
In early Spring, Kate approached us to provide turf to a new area she was creating in her garden. She has called it Project B & B where she aims to see how much she can achieve in just one year to encourage bees, butterflies and other invertebrates into ‘the patch’. Kate took 2 types of turf in April, the classic Landscape Turf for the sunny side of the garden and our new ‘Shade Tolerant Turf‘ to lay underneath the hedgerow. We asked Kate why she had chosen Wildflower Turf and why it was such a good option for Wildlife Gardening.
“When creating a butterfly and bee friendly habitat in my garden, I decided to replace part of my lawn with Wildflower turf. It was incredibly easy to lay and came crammed with over 30 species of native wildflower. Within a week, the turf was starting to establish and after just a month, the area had been transformed into a stunning meadow, attracting a wide variety of invertebrates. The different flowering periods mean the turf is always providing a nectar source, as well as shelter, to many different species and I am thrilled with not only how it looks, but also how it has increased the biodiversity within my garden. With only one cut a year, this turf is ‘win-win’…. both for wildlife and for me…. the ultimate in low maintenance wildlife gardening!”
Kate decided to film a timelapse of her laying the turf which is fascinating to watch as it will show you just how easy it is to put it down.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/x0rG8kUDEoo[/youtube]
We have been really lucky to benefit from Kate’s beautiful photography, below are a wonderful selection of her pictures of Wildflower Turf as it establish after the first couple of weeks of laying. Kate would like the projects she has undertaken in her garden, to inspire others to stop and think what they could do for wildlife in their gardens.
We hope to stay in touch with Kate to find out how these areas have developed over the summer months and whether she has seen a noticeable increase in wildlife to her garden.
All pictures are courtesy of Kate Macrae. To keep up to date with Project B & B please follow the link here.