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Have you noticed that you can’t open a newspaper, magazine or website without finding articles about the importance of sustainability and listing green roofs as a way to “green-up” our urban areas?  Nevertheless, when you think about it,  it’s not hard to imagine the countless opportunities available to introduce a little bit of wildlife into what are essentially areas of tarmac and concrete with the occasional tree.
For example, we all know that riding a bike is a very eco-friendly, healthy method of getting from A to B, but if you live in London,where do you put your bike? In a bike store of course.
Charles Mitchel of Treesaurus has had the brilliant idea of including a wildflower turf roof into the design of his bike store and built one this summer for one of his clients in Wandsworth.
The quite small flat roof 2.64m², required a waterproof membrane, up-stand with drainage channels to allow rainwater run-off and 14 bags of substrate (growing medium)  to 100mm depth for the plant roots to grow into.  This was all topped off with wildflower roof turf;  a glorious mix of 31 species of native wildflowers (50%)  and 4 species of clump…

What could J K Rowling’s “Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows” and Stephen Spielberg’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s children’s fiction novel  “War Horse” possibly have in common?  They are both being made into epic movies I hear you say.  Very good!  But there’s something else as well. Can you guess?  No idea?   Really no idea?  Then I’ll tell you.
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows was partly filmed at Leavesden Studios .  Filmscapes Landscape Gardeners who specialise  in creating breathtaking sets for film, TV and advertising, came to us for some serious quantities of Wildflower Turf for one of the film sets.  We’re very proud AGAIN as this was not the first time that our turf had been used for the Harry Potter films.
Over the last 4 years they have used our high quality lawn turf CT Pro1 for the Quidditch Pitch and Malfoy Manor as well as Wildflower Turf  CT Flora, for Hagrids Hill.
What about War Horse.  Filmscapes again were creating the film sets for this spectacular movie, this time being filmed in part at Stratfield Saye where the…

Outside our office is a little patch of heaven.  All through the summer we have been delighted by the wildflowers as they have appeared and the resulting wildlife that has been attracted to the nectar and later the resulting flower seeds.   Last week the weather the glorious and sunny, getting better and better as the week progressed.  After a bout of rain but equally warm conditions, we were treated to a bit of an Indian summer, so imagine my surprise and delight when I looked out and saw a fairy ring.
Fairy rings have long held a place in European folklore, alternately malicious and benevolent, depending on which century you lived in and your nationality. But how do they get there?  What causes them to grow in a circle?
Well just for our readers I have done a bit of research.  The fact is that fungi (which create the fairy ring) such as toadstools and wild mushrooms use up a lot of nitrogen when growing. They therefore tend to spread their spores outward from where they are first located, so that the new growth has soil in which to grow that still…

We’ve just been sent some lovely photo’s by Oxford Green Roofs of their stand from this years Hampton Court Flower Show. They were awarded a ‘Certificate of Commendation’ for their stand and I am sure you can understand why.

As summer has now well and truly left us I thought these photo’s would just remind you  of those lazy summer days when you could lie in a hammock enjoying the sound of the birds and gently buzzing bees along with a glass of something cool!

All the turf on the stand was provided by us, Wildflower Roof Turf on the roof of the Hammock shelter, our new Wildflower Roof Turf Plus containing a mix of native wildflowers, grasses and sedum on the Bug Hotel and our very own high quality lawn turf.  We are understandably very proud!!

When the days start with a floating mist, when spiders webs are coated with dewdrops, and the sun has to be coaxed over the horizon you know that autumn is just arriving.  That ‘s when the jumpers, gloves and scarves make an appearance and waterproofs become the order of the day ’cause the fields are cold and wet with dew in the early mornings when walking the dogs and inspecting the fields.  We just love it – it’s a new chapter!
As September draws to a close and the days start to shorten (not that we want winter any sooner than usual), we look back at the glorious hot summer we have had here at the farm and reflect on the many events that have happened over the season.  From Barn Owls to Flower Shows, time-lapse videos to our very first newsletter, we’ve reported it all to you in our weekly blogs.
Being a working farm and after a warm dry summer we are patting ourselves on the back for getting our harvest in early, which means we have now also finished sowing the winter wheat. There’s still next years supply of wildflower meadow, wildflower roof and lawn turf to sow,…

We’re very biased about our wildflower turf as you can well imagine, and hate the idea of even the tiniest scrap going to waste.  But what do you do with those small pieces of turf that are left over when you’ve laid your meadow or covered your roof?
We think we’ve found some pretty nifty ideas that you might like to try out to use up those little scraps that you just feel it would be a waste to throw away.
Today, as the rain steadily falls on our freshly strimmed wildflower meadow (note for your diary), I am looking at some lovely photos sent in by one of our customers who bought some wildflower turf for the roof of his garden shelter.  We received a lovely email from Robin Bennet earlier this month, “Last year I covered a small garden shelter with your wildflower turf which you kindly allowed me to collect from the farm. I was very pleased with the whole operation”   Robin didn’t stop there, but gave us a lovely solution for those little left over scraps of turf as well,  “people should not throw away any pieces of turf left – I had a couple of scraps…

So much of our native wildlife is in decline that almost every week we hear or read reports from ecologists and biologists alike that yet another native species is in decline.  2010 is the year of biodiversity which has caught the imagination of architects, garden designers and TV presenters across the nation.  From Chelsea to Gardeners World Live, Landscape Man to Grow your Own Drugs we have been doused with a veritable downpour of glorious solutions guaranteed to appease our consciences. Even in our towns and cities we are encouraged to cover those unsightly flat roofs with something living and green.
So should you decide to have a green roof which will you go for?  Wildflowers of Sedum?  Which green roof will be the most bio-diverse?  A tricky question you might say, given that both are accepted as being ecologically friendly.
This year, it was decided to put the theory to the test.  What was needed was an Entomology survey.  Entomology being the study of insects.
In June and July this year two surveys were carried out on two very different roofs, one wildflower and one sedum.  The results speak for themselves really.

We just thought we would let you know that following the very popular video using time-lapse photography of our wildflower meadow, that we would go one step further.  It’s just as beautiful as before but now we’ve enhanced it.  James has added a commentary, talking you through the process from beginning to end.
We are pretty pleased with the results and reckon you will be too.  So here you are.  Just remember to let it load properly and you will not be disappointed.

When you hear the words Holiday Inn you tend to visualise something quite contemporary.  The newly completed Holiday Inn at Winnersh Triangle, Reading continues to live up to that expectation and at the same time has acquired some green credentials.
There’s nothing more boring  than looking out of a hotel window at a grey tarmac rooftop.  It is certainly less than ideal and definitely not inspiring.  At the recently completed Holiday Inn the words boring and uninspiring don’t form part of the equation. Boasting a flat roof several meters above ground level, guests are treated to a spectacular vision of glorious wildflowers and sapling trees.  Irrigated from beneath, it stays beautifully green the whole year round, whilst producing a succession of flowers attracting birds, butterflies, bees and hoverflies throughout the summer.
When we were asked to supply our Wildflower Meadow Turf for this project we were delighted. So many modern hotels fail to exploit the opportunity to blend in with the surrounding landscape whilst at the same time making a statement.  We  think you’ll agree that the wildflower meadow roof at the new Holiday Inn certainly ticks both those boxes.
[caption id=”attachment_425″ align=”aligncenter” width=”300″ caption=”Wildflower Meadow on the…

Harking back to a time when building materials were sourced from the surrounding countryside, when keeps and castles were built to be impressive and stood proud against the sky line with hoards of soldiers to guard their walls, Cardiff Castle is no exception to that rule.
Relating the extraordinary episodes in the history of the castle , the new Interpretation Centre, is displaying its own extraordinary event – a new green roof of beautiful wildflowers.
When we were first approached by David Hopkins of Cardiff County Council and asked for a quote early in 2009, we were quite surprised as the centre already had a green roof albeit one of sedum.  However, it seemed all was not well with the sedum and they wanted something more spectacular and self-sustaining.
By April the turf was on the roof complete with irrigation system.  The photos below show you the steep gradient on the Interpretation Centre, upon which the turfs were laid.  By June visitors were greeted by an army of wildflowers – a little different from the armies that would have been in residence in Roman times.
The first wave of flowers is generally led by the Campions; White (Silene latifolia),…