Here is a selection of some sites that show an established wildflower meadow. The gallery demonstrates the many applications a wildflower meadow can bring to any given site.
From the larger sites…
To the smaller sites…
To public green spaces…
To something a bit different…
Athlete Kate Allenby MBE, tweeted about the wildflower meadows being ‘installed’ at the Olympic Park – https://twitter.com/KateAllenby/status/228483573517271041/photo/1 – this must have come as a bit of a surprise!!
To help Kate – and any others who had seen this and may have been equally perplexed (we did retweet this to our followers) – the London Olympics is being described as the first ‘sustainable’ Games, and the use of wildflower environments at the Opening Ceremony, in the Olympic Village and as part of the Olympic transformation is all part of this inspiring vision.
We are all for the introduction of wildflowers into built environments. With the construction of the London 2012 sites being the biggest building project being undertaken in recent history, the use of wildflowers as an integral part of the project is great news – great for the bees, butterflies and other pollinators – and a beautiful and inspiring environment for us human beings!
Greenwich Park is London’s oldest Royal Park, dating back to 1433. The park boasts buildings of historic importance such as the Old Royal Observatory, the National Maritime Museum and the Queen’s House. It is part of the Greenwich World Heritage site and home to the Prime Meridian Line.
With such a historical importance it provides the perfect venue for the equestrian cross-country event, the combined running and shooting event of the Modern Pentathlon. The 5.7 kilometre cross-country course features over 42 jumps and provides riders and horses with water obstacles, slopes and hills.
All the jumps integrated colourful and bio-diverse Wildflower Turf which guaranteed that the venue provided a natural and wild element to the design of the course.
Its comforting to think that something as prestigious as the Olympics puts an emphases on biodiversity and sustainability.
In order to fulfil this ideal ‘The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012’ was set up on January 2007. This is an independent body which monitors and assures the sustainability of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is the first time such a Commission has ever been established.
The ‘Green and Pleasant Land’ theme developed by Danny Boyle visually emphasised and reinforced the sustainability objectives right from the start. It highlights the role bio-diverse landscapes have played in the UK’s recent economic development.
This is clearly visible in the use of meadows, wildflowers and hedgerows on the set of the opening ceremony. With the current serious decline of bees and key pollinators, reinforcing the importance of these environments is more paramount than ever. The challenge is to integrate these natural habitats into man-made build environment projects.
Follow this link for further details London 2012 Sustainability Plan
Project: SINC at Popley Fields, Basingstoke
Back in 2007 a large area which was already a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC), needed to be re-created for Great Crested Newts at Popley Ponds, Basingstoke, before redevelopment of the adjacent land for new homes by Wilson Homes.
What made this project so interesting was the fact that part of the plan included 6,000m² of wildflower meadow, with a dispersal corridor between the ponds and the meadow, as Newts require suitable terrestrial habitat for most of the year.
This project is a perfect example of how the construction industry and ecologists can work together, to try to minimise the overall ecological impact on wildlife,…
A few months ago we were asked to supply 150m² of our Wildflower Turf to a couple who live in St Martin de Mailloc, France.
Due to the fact that it is a living product, delivering the turf to France does propose an obvious logistical challenge!
By the time it arrives on site in France the chances are it would have been on pallets for at least three days. We would not want to take the risk of the turf perishing in the warmer spring and summer months during its trip to France.
With this in mind, we would always suggest that if you are thinking about ordering Wildflower Turf to be delivered in France, you take on board that we would only be happy supplying the turf during the Autumn or Winter months to avoid it getting damaged or perished.
Mind you… thus far the summer of 2012 has not exactly been hot, but even so, ordering during the Autumn and Winter months would be the best option!!
We have been busy supplying our Wildflower Turf to various designers and landscapers for Hampton Court over the last few weeks. Here are a few of the show gardens which incorporated our turf…
Tony Richards from Graduate Landscapes visited us so that he could plan for Hampton Court. He came to choose some Wildflower Turf back in June and decided on 9m² of some very lovely flowering turf.
Of course when the turf is mature you can’t roll it without risking damaging the stems, so Tony arranged for two of his vehicles to come to the farm to collect it.
I am sure that they had some funny looks driving along the roads!! Hopefully it made people smile and brightened up their day to see something so pretty zoom past them on the UK roads.
Have a look at this link for the final show garden! It looks great! Garden for…
Back in June 2012 Martin Duncan Head Gardener at Arundel Castle ordered approximately 90m² of our Wildflower Turf for the large grassed area within the grounds. Martin has mentioned us in the article featured in July’s edition of the Sussex Express.
Martin has noticed that many visitors have been inspired to go home and plan their wildflower areas for next year which is great new for wildlife!!
Press day at Capel Manor…
On Tuesday the 19th June Capel Manor hosted a press day where they invited some of their sponsors to talk about their products. The day was also sponsored by the HTA and The Garden Media Guild.
We sponsored some areas within the Old Manor House Garden – 43m² went up to Capel Manor to be incorporated into the garden.
Julie Phipps has been coordinating with us and she took some Wildflower Turf back in May to make sure that it was installed and ready to be in bloom for 19th June.
She commented that, “the Wildflower Turf is looking amazing and growing really well”!
Julie invited James to give a small presentation which needed to be approximately 5-7 minutes long. James has so much experience it was a real challenge to condense the seminar down to under 10 minutes!! All went…
15-19th June NEC Birmingham
There is a new feature this year… the Bee House and Garden, which provides a fantastic interactive display.
The RHS, The British Bee Keeping Association (BBKA) and Bumblebee Conservation all joined forces to create this interesting feature at the Gardeners World Live Stand.
The bumblearium gives people the opportunity to get close to the bumblebees as they bumble around collecting nectar from our Wildflower Turf!
15-19th June NEC Birmingham