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As with the case with road verges could it be conceivable to convert difficult to manage areas of green spaces to a wildflower meadow? This was the suggestion by Angus Lindsay from The Landscape Group recently in an interview in the October issue of ProLandscaper Magazine.

His background is in agriculture, where he has gained experience in managing field operations and mechanisation Management, so perhaps not the background one would expect for considering wildflower meadows and biodiversity?! However the point here is that ecology, infrastructure and landscaping are crossing over due to such practicalities as BREEAM and code for Sustainable Housing.
For grounds maintenance professionals they have to keep our green lands pleasant and with the economic squeeze faced by many of us this year, this to say the least has been challenging. We shouldn’t stop mowing lawns completely, that would be unrealistic, but it certainly makes sense to look into alternatives. It is more about looking at sites which are challenging to the machines and people who operate them, and thinking about converting those areas into wildflower meadows, which is very simple and easy to maintain. Examples of challenging sites could be central reservations on certain roads, slopes and banks which are very steep,…

Over the last couple of months our MD James Hewetson-Brown, has been invited to be interviewed for a selection of radio stations and television stations, including BBC South East, South Today, and Sussex Radio.

We have been working with the Grasslands Trust, Meadows Nectar Networks Initiative (MNNI) and Keith Datchler OBE the head of the initiative, with the aim of installing our Wildflower Turf at selected UK locations. The turf which was featured at the Olympics will help to reverse the decline in our wildflower meadows with the aim of promoting regional biodiversity and sustainability.  
In a bid to reverse the decline of our wildflower meadows by offering practical support to landowners with the management, enhancement and creation of lowland meadow across the Weald, The Meadows Nectar Networks Initiative raises awareness of the value of meadows through demonstrations to the public and landowners, highlighting what can be achieved with little effort!
The initiative was originated by the High Weald AONB at Flimwell and in 2010 transferred to the leadership of the High Weald Landscape Trust (WMI -Weald Meadows Initiative). More recently it has been associated with The Grasslands Trust. 

Native plants could be described as the backbone of local ecology.

With a low maintenance option that will give colour throughout the spring and summer, and provide form into the autumn months, wildflowers are surely the perfect answer to road verges, central reservations and even roundabouts. In fact road verges are becoming a vital last refuge for our wildflowers of meadow and old pasture.
Plantlife launched a UK campaign in response to members of the public complaining that their local verges were being mown down almost as soon as the flowers bloom! This is a major concern. If these verges are routinely being mown down, even when the flowers are in full bloom, or sprayed off with poisons and then the cuttings left on the verge, choking out any chance of the flowers recovering, what happens to the wildlife? Over time, the only plants that can survive this kind of management will be nettles and coarse grasses. As the flowers disappear, the verges lose their ecological value for the local wildlife, due to the loss of biodiversity. Unless there is a suitable and accessible alternative nearby the populations will most likely be lost.

Studies made beside 12 main roads in Dorset and Hampshire were…

As well as a World Heritage Site with 250 years of history, Kew is a world leading plant science and conservation organisation. Kew Gardens is also famous for the impressive array of glasshouses it boasts, which prove to be the most popular features within the grounds. Their scientific resources and expertise are focused on finding plant-based solutions to global challenges such as biodiversity loss, food and water security, poverty, disease and changing climate. The strategy at the heart of this work is Kew’s Breathing Planet Programme.
Philip Griffiths, Displays Co-ordinator at Kew has sent through some lovely pictures showing the Wildflower Turf in 2012, around the Princess of Wales conservatory. They successfully installed 170m² of our Wildflower Turf back in April 2012. The Princess of Wales Conservatory enjoys the most complicated glasshouse at Kew because it recreates ten climatic zones, all of which are computer controlled. 

Do we need to worry how we use the term wildflower meadow?

This was the question posed by Miles King, well-respected Conservation Director of the Grasslands Trust. As with the majority of things in life it depends upon your point of view.  It is all in the eye of the beholder so to speak, and is a highly debatable subject.
If you are aware of the latest gardening trends you’ve probably realised that meadows are very fashionable at the moment. A meadow even if it is rather small has become a bit of a ‘must have’ at flower shows. We provided Chelsea and many other shows this year with our Wildflower Turf, where the brief was ‘as colourful as possible’.
What is clear is that two types of meadows are emerging here: the traditional ‘hay’ meadow and the pictorial, (urban) meadow. Their popularity is definitely quickly gaining momentum through more public awareness. This gain in awareness is largely credited to the Olympics planting Fields of Gold, 2012’s RHS Britain in Bloom going ‘wild about wildflowers,’ and the people who manage Hyde Park letting the grass grow long.
It is worth pointing out that the former two…

The IOG’s SALTEX exhibition ‘one-stop shop’ for all turf and open space management matters and as a showcase for new ideas and products. IOG SALTEX takes place in
50 acres at Windsor Racecourse, Berks, and with around 400 exhibitors and over 9,000 visitors.

The exhibition embraces fine turf and sports surfaces, turf maintenance equipment, children’s outdoor play and safety surfacing, landscaping, contractors, commercial vehicles, outdoor leisure and facilities management, as well as software and security equipment – everything that’s needed for the maintenance, management and development of open spaces…
Held on the first night of the IOG’s SALTEX exhibition at Windsor, the 2012 Pro Awards took place at the Macdonald Savill Court Hotel in Windsor Great park, on the 4th September 2012. Organised by the AEA in association with Service Dealer and Turf Pro magazines, the Pro Awards recognise dealer excellence in the farm machinery, turfcare, garden machinery and ATV/Quad markets.
The 2012 Pro Awards Categories were as follows:
2012 Dealer of the Year Awards

2012 Stars of the dealership awards

CPRE Hampshire Countryside Awards 2012 was hosted on Friday 28th September. We were announced as a finalist so we had our fingers crossed!

 
Launched in 2007, The Countryside Awards scheme organised by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) Hampshire in association with Steve’s Leaves and SmithsGore aims to recognise significant achievements across the county of Hampshire.
In order to qualify, winning projects must support their mission of “a beautiful, diverse and living countryside that everyone can value and enjoy”. It is one of the greatest established Awards schemes in the county, and over 20 projects have been recognised by an award to date. The judges’ backgrounds are commonly in environmental conservation, business and the community.
The three categories for 2012 are as follows:

Every month we will post a little blog containing a brief description accompanied by a little bit of ecology, on a specific wildflower! It is our pledge to promote all varieties of wildflowers!

So which flower will it be this month? Introducing a very unusual little wildflower called Toothwort (Lathraea) which has a small genus of about 10 species which are perennial herbs native to temperate Europe and Asia. The name Lathraea means hidden. This is due to the fact that part of the plant lives below ground for most of the year, out of sight until the spring when it pushes up its white flowering spike through the leaf litter. The name Toothwort refers to the plant’s toothed, or scaly, rootstock.  

It is commonly considered to be a member of the figwort family (Scrophulariaceae) but it is now grouped with the broomrape family (Orobanchaceae).
The plant bears small white or pale pink inflorescence spikes which occur in spring, which produce pinkish – to yellowish – white flowers situated on one side of the stem. It tends to…

…something beginning with ‘W’.
Wildflower Turf to be precise! In July we were approached by Paul Hermon from Green & Gorgeous who’s brief was to supply and install a mature meadow for a site in Somerset, which needed to be around 260m². It needed to be mature due to the fact that it was needed for filming.

During the summer months we always hold back some of our Wildflower Turf so that it has the opportunity to become more mature. We hold mature stock right up until the autumn when we would then need to mow it, so that it is ready for the winter. This is because we have supplied our mature turf for filming projects in the past, as well as many of the prestigious flower shows, and its roots will establish quite quickly once installed, if your project requires it to. Logistically with the mature turf it would need to be delivered flat on an artic lorry, to avoid squashing or breaking the stems.

So what exactly was the filming for?

In a nutshell it was…

We have surely all by now, come across the statistic that wildflower meadows have declined by 97% since the Second World War, and that the majority of the ancient hay meadows which have survived are in desperately poor condition. Something that is not so shouted about, (and should be) is that research has shown that not only are meadows valuable wildlife habitats, but they are really efficient at absorbing and storing carbon.

Research carried out by Miles King Director of Conservation for the Grassland Trust has highlighted that grasslands lock up a fifth of all soil carbon in the UK. This is significantly more than woodland cover. In fact grasslands store on average up to 3 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year, which is more than double the amount that British woodlands store. Although it is worth noting that certain species of tree will be capable of absorbing up to 3.5 tonnes.
How do they do this? Plant litter and other biomass accumulates as organic matter in soils, and is degraded by chemical weathering and biological degradation. Grasslands contribute to soil organic matter, stored mainly in their extensive fibrous root mats. Miles King explained that carbon absorbed into the soil by becoming organic matter is…