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A client of ours, Gillian Oakes used our Wildflower Turf to soften the existing landscape surrounding her house which was a new build. Gillian commented that the Wildflower Turf was “a real success!” Additionally she mentioned, “the turf around the house and on the earth berms has made all the difference in allowing the house to sit back in the landscape.”
The soil excavated for the basement and swimming pond, was recycled by being relocated to form an earth berm behind the house on the north face, which is a great idea, and adopts a permaculture way of thinking.
Gillian said, “the turf looks fantastic.  It is lovely to look up through the roof-light and see daisies in the foreground, and the tops of beech trees behind.”

Gillian enthused, “it instantly transformed the area around the house from a building site covered in orange mud and dust, to a glorious wildflower meadow.”

Gillian made an interesting…

Theodore Gillick showcased two of his popular works on the SKYshades Garden at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show 2011, and has kindly sent us a photo.  His new, life-size Leaping Hares are a garden version of the table-top Mad March Hares, an edition which proved hugely popular and has now sold out.
Only released from the foundry in early May, Leaping Hares are an edition of 9.  The edition seen at Chelsea is already number 3, with several further orders having been taken in the first few days of the Show.
The Hares are in their element in the SKYshades garden, surrounded by our Wildflower Turf, and would look marvellous in a wild (or not so wild) area of any garden.  They have a discreet base which can be fixed into the ground as required.

The use of sculpture to enhance a garden setting is one of the themes covered by Julie Hollobone, in her article on the RHS website, entitled ‘Five Trends to Watch’. In it she makes reference to ‘Leaping Hares’. See the full article here.
Did you know…The saying,…

 Project: Winchester, Oliver’s Battery.
On this site there was an area of garden which had become a virtual wilderness, owing to the density of suckers and roots emanating from several lilac bushes. Additionally a couple of old trees (some of which were diseased), along with a few other unwanted shrubs made it very difficult for the owners to manage.

The proposed work… The owners felt that to try to work with what they had, was impossible, and wanted something ‘low maintenance’. Dean Rural Services were approached to tackle this project and David Plunton, who has a background in wildlife conservation, and pond restoration/installation decided how the site could be improved.
The outcome was that a radical overhaul seemed to be the only solution. The sensible option seemed to be, to grub out everything growing on the bank and replant it with semi-mature specimen trees. To provide ground cover, Wildflower Turf fitted the requirements perfectly. It is easily managed, and will provide a natural feature to the garden.

‘Transition Towns have been set up around the country to address the twin issues of peak oil and climate change.’
In response to these challenges the movement has a clear goal: to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels. A few examples of this would be: by adapting our life styles to reduce energy use, growing our own food, and by adopting the concept of permaculture.
Not an easy goal: however by taking small steps towards making these changes as well as by working together, this should ensure that we are on the right road to address these issues, which makes these challenges not only seem less daunting, but also achievable.
If you are interested in finding out more follow this link  Transition Network which will help to explain how your local community can get involved.
Transition Town Romsey believe ‘there are positive ways to make their local community resilient to the changes ahead – and the result will be an even nicer place to live!’ With this in mind we were approached by Suella Long from Friends of Whitenap Community Orchard, for the supply of 180m² of our Wildflower Turf which they installed within the…

Back in September we decided to film a short video of our Wildflower Turf to see how much insect activity we could find. We certainly found plenty of invertebrate life.
This little beetle was spotted quite easily, and as you can see from the first picture, is very tiny, no more than about 5mm in length. It was not very active and quite happy to just stay put whilst being filmed!
We were wondering if anyone out there knew what family and genus it belongs to, or even better what species of beetle it actually is?
Here are a few pictures to help identify it…

We look forward to someone shedding some light on this…

James, Director at Wildflower Turf Limited enjoyed presenting his seminar last Tuesday 25th October, on establishing a wildflower meadow, specifically focusing on comparing  the use of seed against turf.  The seminar attracted a large audience and James discussed the pro’s and con’s of Wildflower Turf versus seed for establishing a meadow. The cost analysis of the two options was of great interest, and prompted many questions. James presented a table showing the differences of how to cost the two, and the conclusion showed a significant long term saving with the use of Wildflower Turf. If you would like this pdf please call the office: 01256 771222.

The stand enjoyed plenty of interest over the two days and the flowering samples were the envy of many garden designers! At the end of the show the various samples were donated to the head gardener at Capel Manor, Julie Phipps, who will use them for two areas within the grounds of the college.

Garden Designer Fiona Stephenson has kindly supplied us with these fabulous photos taken at Hampton Court 2011. Her WWF Chalk Stream garden earned her a silver gilt. Congratulations it looks stunning!
You can see how our Wildflower Turf has been used to soften the edges of the path. It also complements the planting scheme by adding a natural edge to the borders, whilst creating a ‘wild’ feel to the garden.

Fiona commented that, “it is so much harder to do a ‘piece of wild/natural landscape’ than a garden.”  She also said, “the turf was a godsend for filling in around the plants.”
Fiona’s design illustrates the diversity of application that our Wildflower Turf can provide in any garden setting.  In other words, you don’t have to use the turf just to create large areas of meadow, but alternatively, you can successfully incorporate smaller sections of the meadow turf with other plants and shrubs, producing a more natural feel to a
planting scheme.

Less than one week to go… James is hoping that the weather will be kind to everyone who is attending the Creating Landscapes Show, which is taking place at Capel Manor College, Enfield on the 25th  & 26th October 2011.
Don’t forget to catch his seminar at 12pm, Tuesday 25th entitled,  “Establishing wildflower meadows – turf or seed?” He looks forward to seeing you there.
You can find us at stand 302…where there will be various samples of our turf on display, as well as something a bit different…

In addition to the seminar with support from Operation Pollinator, we will be sharing our stand with 50 Buff-tailed Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris audax). They will be carefully housed in a see-through bee box, and will have access to a small patch of Wildflower Turf in bloom. The idea is to give people an up close and personal opportunity, to witness the bees gathering nectar, and going about their daily routine.

Garden designer Clare Fullerton of New Leaf Garden Design, has kindly sent us some photos of a project she completed in an urban London garden. Artichoke Landscapes installed 25m² of Wildflower Turf, which has made a substantial difference to what was a sparse and monoculture environment.

An environment which once had a very low diversity, has now benefited from a wildflower meadow. The meadow has created a naturally bio-diverse habitat, and as you can see from the pictures, the Wildflower Turf  has been successfully incorporated with other plant species, as well as a lawn, to create a natural and tranquil planting scheme.
Thanks to Clare for providing us with these images.

Tim Morris Building Consultancy and Design have successfully installed our Wildflower Roof Turf at Black Pasture Cottage. Matthew Timms, director of Tim Morris, has kindly sent us some images of this project for our records.
As the images below show, the green roof seamlessly merges into the raised area, providing one continuing landscape of wildflowers.
Matthew Timms commented, “the building works are not entirely complete but it shows the new turf you supplied which has taken extremely well.”
We are grateful to Tim for the positive feedback and have asked for more pictures next summer!