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We are all very aware how biodiversity has been compromised over the years and our Wildflower Turf products continue to aid both the construction and landscaping industries deliver guaranteed biodiversity enhancement where development is taking place. Increasing biodiversity within both urban and rural landscapes is fundamental to our company values and why we are really proud to be sponsoring the ‘Overall Winner’ category in the BIG Challenge awards that champion biodiversity in the construction industry.
Biodiversity enhancement should be at the heart of design and engineering processes although knowing where to start and how to incorporate them into developments can be daunting.
The BIG challenge launched in 2013 to encourage organisations to make one biodiversity enhancement on each construction site, development or building.
The enhancements can be as simple as adding hanging baskets with native wildflowers, creating bug hotels, rain gardens, planted cycle locks and skip gardens. They can be permanent features for the development or temporary during the construction phase. There are over 35 organisations currently signed up to participate and the Big Challenge website features the competition entrants case studies.
The challenge…

As we remember the start of the First World War, we are again reminded of the poignancy of the red poppy and how significant this was to so many of our soldiers. Some forward thinking councils have planned memorial areas and parks in time for this years events and I am sure we will see further displays spread across the nation throughout the next four years in time for the centenary anniversary of the end of WW1.

We have learnt a great deal about poppies this year working on two separate projects for councils. The common poppy is an annual wildflower, a showboat of red which normally flowers in late June and July. They are however notoriously difficult to germinate and conditions need to be just right. A poppy will produce and disperse up to 17,000 seeds but a much smaller percentage will actually germinate the following year. In fact seeds can lay dormant for many years and still be viable to germinate up to 100 years later.
We have worked with two different councils this year to help them create a more thoughtful approach to a poppy display that will provide a…

Last week we were delighted to find out that our native wildflower turf ‘Landscape 34’ has been shortlisted for the Society of Garden Designers ‘Product of the Year 2014.‘

This is a new award that has been developed by the SGD to celebrate the very best range of new products available to professional garden designers to implement their visions. We are amongst just 10 products to have been shortlisted and our turf will be displayed and featured at the Landscape Show in Battersea Park on 23rd and 24th September. All garden designers who attend the show will be invited to vote for their favourite product and the winner will be announced at the end of the show.

Landscape 34 is a favourite amongst many prestigious and award winning garden designers and contractors. Our Landscape Turf has 34 different varieties of native wildflowers that have been pre-sown in a perfect mix to create an instant meadow. The young perennial wildflowers establish…

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…

Butterflies and moths are a classic part of the British wildlife scene. We can probably all remember the joy of watching them as children, trying to identify them on the buddleia, making a home for a caterpillar in a jam jar and turning out the light at night to stop the moths getting trapped in a lampshade. Sadly, 30 years on there has been a massive decline of both butterflies and moths and we see far fewer in our gardens. As part of our wildlife focus this month, we want to tell you why butterflies and moths are so important and how we can help with conservation efforts.

Butterflies and moths play a vital role in the ecosystem and affect many other types of wildlife. They have a key pollinating role and are a rich food source for other species, particularly birds. Because of their short and varied lifecycles they are a well known measure of the health of the environment. They react very quickly to change in their environment and so can be used as an early warning system for wildlife losses making them an excellent biodiversity indicator. 50% of the UK’s…

Every year we have a flurry of activity with the start of the ‘show’ season, with all sorts of wonderful requests for wildflower turf, this year has been no exception. We are able to offer both a ‘grow on’ service for which we have designated ‘show beds’ at our nursery from which clients can choose. If the show is earlier in the season, the designer is able to take the turf rolled and grow it on themselves within a polytunnel.

We wanted to share with you our 2014 RHS Chelsea stories, as we are so very proud to have provided such an array of turf with outstanding results.
 
NO MAN’S LAND – CHARLOTTE ROWE – THE SOLDIERS CHARITY            
GOLD MEDAL

Charlotte Rowe has designed her first show garden on Main Avenue at RHS Chelsea, marking the centenary of World War One, created in partnership with ABF The Soldiers’ Charity. It is a conceptual representation of the landscape of World War One and serves as a poignant reminder of the challenges and hardships faced by soldiers 100 years ago, while highlighting…

Wildflower Turf are the UK’s leading supplier of wildflower turf and related products, perfect for biodiverse landscape projects of any scale and to a wide range of customers. We deliver a bio diverse habitat supporting native birds, mammals, bees and butterflies whilst also providing stunning colour and contrast to gardens, parks, estates, schools, embankments, verges and open spaces.
Over the last 12 years we have developed a unique ‘soil-less’ system that allows the roots of wildflowers to bind together to form a thick mat, easy to install, quick to establish and requiring very little maintenance.

James Hewetson Brown, MD at Wildflower Turf, is a pioneer in wildflower sustainable landscaping and biodiversity. His expertise in wildflower landscapes has led to the development of an array of products with wide ranging applications for roofs, embankments, roadsides, community areas and gardens as well as providing a real solution to biodiversity problems.
 
    
This June, Wildflower Turf are…

Over the last six months we have taken on a couple of Spring bulb planting projects here at Wildflower Turf HQ. We are really excited about the different areas we have created and are pleased with the results so far with early colour and height amongst the new green growth of the wildflower. This has been a really interesting project and we hope to have learnt some valuable insights into underplanting our wildflower turf. These are the different aspects that we are currently researching.

What did we plant?

This week, we have been taking a look at the different species of wildflower that go to make up our native landscape turf. We have been producing wildflower turf for over 11 years now and the 34 species came about after much time spent researching and trialling the perfect balance of wildflowers and grasses. We feel the native seed mixture for our Landscape Wildflower Turf, provides the perfect blend of colour, form and height. Each species was chosen for their many qualities from wildlife havens, nectar sources, weed suppressants, flowering season, drought toleration to just being fabulously pretty. Below are just some of the incredible facts about our native wildflowers that we have unearthed this week.
GREAT FOR WILDLIFE

Birdsfoot Trefoil, commonly known as Eggs and Bacon, we think it looks more like scrambled egg – what do you think. Earns it’s place in our wildflower turf as it is loved by bumble bees offering a very rich nectar source. Red Clover, another bee magnet but makes a very pleasant herbal…

We assume there will be plenty of talk about ‘jungles’ over the weekend, with another I’m a Celebrity- ‘Get me out of here!’ about to start on Sunday. So we thought we’d introduce you to a different type of jungle today – a butterfly jungle.

Last year we were approached by Paul Allen from Butterfly Jungles, an RHS award winning landscaper, who creates gardens and environments that are specifically designed with butterflies in mind. Paul had been appointed to advise and design a new butterfly friendly area around the Riverside development in Ferry Quays in London. He has subsequently developed a fantastic Butterfly Sanctuary, creating several different habitats using our Wildflower Turf as a key element in the design. We spoke to Paul earlier this month to talk through the project and find out how the Sanctuary had faired over the last year.
 

The site had originally started off as a brown field site in the heart of the Riverside developments in East London. As you…