News

Landscaping dilemma?  New build?  New garden layout? What on earth can be done with that steep bank at the back of the plot?  Or maybe it’s a raised area but the added expense of a retaining wall cannot be justified and the clients preference is for a softer approach.  You certainly don’t want to be mowing a piece of grass on a  45° slope, neither do you want a border – just too much work, besides which every time there is heavy rainfall down comes half the topsoil onto the lawn below.
Well we  have an idea that we believe you will really like.  Why not cover that difficult area with wildflowers?  It doesn’t really matter whether the slope is long and deep or whether it is just a little slope, the effect can be stunning and so simple to achieve.
Have a look at a couple of projects that we have been involved with and make up your own mind.
The final couple of photos are a small project for North Waltham village, Hampshire.  Ponds always hold a place in our heart as the centrepiece of the quintessential village.  The village pond in North Waltham is no exception and the addition…

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR LOVELY CUSTOMERS AND THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR BUSINESS OVER 2010!!!
SNOW! SNOW! and more SNOW!  That was the end of November and all of December and whilst is was very beautiful, it caused havoc for lots of our customers who had ongoing projects.
It did mean that we had a white Christmas – thank you very much!  But now that’s all over as well as the New Year celebrations, we would all very much like to just get on with…. well … STUFF!
So we thought, that as January can be very inclement – and is in fact extremely wet here at Ashe Warren in Hampshire – we would send a link for the Met Office website to all our customers whose projects have been delayed by the freezing, snowy weather.
We’ve done the hard part and inserted the post code for their project in order to provide a long-range weather forecast for them, so they can more easily forward plan the laying of their turf.  We hope they will find this a useful initiative.
For anyone reading this blog, all you have to do is put your postcode or that of your…

This year we have seen a huge rise in the numbers of enquiries about using Wildflower Turf on ‘Green Roofs’. We seemed to be answering the same type of questions quite a lot and so decided to create a dedicated space on the website to help out.
There are two new main pages, one showing our green roof products, and another is a Laying Guide for green roofs.
Watch out next year for Green Walls!

Not that we’re bragging but we seem to be rubbing shoulders with some very influential people these days.  For example, we have been especially pleased to be supplying award-winning garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith with around 5,000m² of our wildflower turf to complement two of his major new projects.
Some of our projects have left us quite breathless, either because of their grandeur, location or their complexity.  We can’t forget HPR Partnership who masterminded the new themed area at Paultons Park; Peppa Pig World, which sports a huge green roof and was subsequently built by BBS Roofing. It is a breathtaking design that we reported on earlier in the year. Neither can we forget East Midlands Landscapes for the New Sainsbury’s Eco garden at Dursley – Bee-autiful!  Of course if we were counting there’d also be Eco-Roofing for the Tring Dance School roof on the Rothschild Estate and Sky-garden Green Roofs for Buckfast Abbey.
There have been small projects too, some just as stunning, such as award-winning designers show gardens for Chelsea, Hampton Court and Tatton Park…

Not that we’re bragging but we seem to be rubbing shoulders with some very influential people these days.  For example, we have been especially pleased to be supplying award-winning garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith with around 5,000m² of our wildflower turf to complement two of his major new projects.
Some of our projects have left us quite breathless, either because of their grandeur, location or their complexity.  We can’t forget HPR Partnership who masterminded the new themed area at Paultons Park; Peppa Pig World, which sports a huge green roof and was subsequently built by BBS Roofing. It is a breathtaking design that we reported on earlier in the year. Neither can we forget East Midlands Landscapes for the New Sainsbury’s Eco garden at Dursley – Bee-autiful!  Of course if we were counting there’d also be Eco-Roofing for the Tring Dance School roof on the Rothschild Estate and Sky-garden Green Roofs for Buckfast Abbey.
There have been small projects too, some just as stunning, such as award-winning designers show gardens for Chelsea, Hampton Court and Tatton Park…

We are very proud to announce that Coronet Turf was yet again a winner.  This is our 3rd Business award in as many years and we are shouting it out from the roof tops – well can you blame us?
I sure you will agree that James and Claire Hewetson-Brown look very pleased with their award in the photo below.

James & Claire receiving their Award from Sponsors North Hampshire Enterprise

The Inspire Business Awards are hosted each year to celebrate business successes in Basingstoke and North Hampshire.  A huge venue was required for this years awards due to popularity and support –  a vacant business unit in Hatch, Old Basing, a 10,00 square foot area which was transformed over several days into something quite special.
Over 400 people representing businesses across north Hampshire gathered on Thursday evening  (18th November) to celebrate their success in the area.
As reported by Sardine Media, one of the event Sponsors, “Coronet Turf was a finalist last year and has built its business on an innovative wild flower turf, the turf is produced using a unique soil-less process and has cornered…

The last entry in our “Advantages of a Wildflower Meadow” series focuses on birds & mammals.  From small seed loving birds such as Yellowhammers to glorious and spectacular Red Kites not forgetting field mice, voles and more importantly humans.
We’re back to the  food-chain again.  Wildflowers produce nectar, an abundant supply of nectar loving invertebrates (including butterflies, bees, spiders and millipedes) provide birds such as our native Finches, Sparrows, Yellowhammers and Linnets with plenty of  food for their young during the summer.
It also means that summer visitors such as House Martins, Swifts and Swallows will be more likely to successfully rear offspring, and there’s nothing more nostalgic than seeing these amazing avians sweeping across meadows and fields in the warmth of the summer sun.
Like it or not we have to accept that large healthy populations of small birds and small insect and seed feeding mammals also feed our native raptors;  Tawny Owls, Long Eared Owls, Sparrow Hawks, Buzzards & Kites.
What are the advantages to humans?
To begin with, wildflowers are very important to us as humans as they help maintain a healthy eco-system.  for example, the insects attracted to the wildflowers help to fertilise the crops we grow to eat. When…

A wildflower meadow doesn’t have to be big it can be a small area of your garden, but wherever you choose to locate your meadow, it will be advantageous to at least some of our wildlife.  These meadows don’t only benefit insects with their vast array of nectar producing flowers during the day, they also benefit creatures during the night, some of which really enjoy the damp areas at the bottom of the thatch.

It’s all part of a chain;  wildflowers produce nectar, large supplies of nectar produce a healthy supply of insects, which in turn can produce huge benefits for nocturnal birds, amphibians and mammals too.

FACTS:

Altogether there are 2,500 different types of moth found in this country but the last 40 years have seen numbers tumble by a third.

A flourishing population of nocturnal moths provides a healthy supply of food for both Little Owls and Bats

Beetles found in wildflower meadows represent food for the Little Owl of which there are about 5,800-11,600 breeding pairs in the UK according to the RSPB so the more wildflower meadows we create the better chance they have of successfully rearing their young.

Barn Owls,  like to…

There are a number an aesthetic values to butterflies and moths,  not least of which is that they are part of our natural heritage and they are beautiful to observe.  Butterflies are also often portrayed as the essence of nature or as representing freedom, beauty or peace.
FACTS:

Butterflies and moths are indicators of a healthy environment and healthy ecosystems. They indicate a wide range of other invertebrates, which comprise over two-thirds of all species. Areas rich in butterflies and moths are rich in other invertebrates. These collectively provide a wide range of environmental benefits, including pollination and natural pest control. Moths and butterflies are an important element of the food chain and are prey for birds, bats and other insectivorous animals (for example, in Britain and Ireland, Blue Tits eat an estimated 50 billion moth caterpillars each year). Butterflies and moths support a range of other predators and parasites, many of which are specific to individual species, or groups of species. Butterflies have been widely used by ecologists as model organisms to study the impact of habitat loss and fragmentation, and climate change.

While so many native butterflies are now in short supply,  it is becoming increasingly rare to see the abundance…

What are the advantages of a wildflower meadow aside from the aesthetic attraction?  In recent years over 95% of our wildflower meadows have disappeared.  This is a great loss to the countryside but also more importantly to our native wildlife.  In this short series of blogs to be posted over the next few weeks we will address just some of the advantages of wildflower meadows and how we can turn back time and help reverse this process by growing our own, however large or small.
A wildflower meadow is a complete ecosystem all on its own providing food for a wide range of wildlife.  One particular benefactor of this nectar rich environment is the  bee.  Bees are vital to mankind for pollination, yet these beautiful insects are under considerable pressure from  habitat loss (a distinct lack of wildflowers just about everywhere) and disease.
A FEW FACTS:
There are many species of bees in the UK, 250 to be exact, all of which depend upon wildflowers for nectar.  In the last 75 years 2 of these species has become extinct.  “They are reported to be worth around £200m to British agriculture (which is probably an underestimation) due to the vital role they play…