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Lincolnshire County Council’s initiative is verging on sheer brilliance…

Many of our readers will be familiar with the wonderful initiative that is Plantlife’s Road Verge Campaign and their aim to transform 500,000 kilometres of rural road verge in the UK.

One UK council who we feel is leading the way and taking things one step further is Lincolnshire County Council. Their Verge Biomass initiative has been an evolving project for the council for the last 8 years or so.

We recently interviewed Helen Jenkins-Knight, Senior Sustainability Office at Lincolnshire County Council, to learn more about this fascinating project…

How did the Road Verge Biomass initiative begin?

Initially we simply wanted to see if there was something sustainable and economical that could be done with arisings created from our verge management process (cutting the first 1.1m of verge twice or three times a year and leaving the arisings in situ to creates a build-up of nutrients in the soil).

The more nutrients in the soil the better the conditions for larger plants to grow such as hog weed, cow parsley, nettles and brambles etc. By removing arisings, we reduce soil nutrients and create conditions suitable for wildflowers, crucial to supporting our native pollinator species.

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Wildflower Turf Ltd holds a wealth of expertise in all things wildflower and our knowledgeable team also provides consultancy to a wide variety of professionals, organisations and Councils within the landscaping and built environment industry.

One of our current consultancy clients is West Berkshire Council and Helen Gillespie-Brown is our lead on this particular project.

Helen joined the Wildflower Turf Ltd team 7 years ago and holds a Bachelor of Science in Physical Geography, a Post Graduate Diploma in Corporate Environmental Management, and has achieved the RHS Level 2 Principles of Horticulture qualification.

Helen is advising the Council on the installation of various wildflower areas around Newbury and this project is an excellent example of the way in which our knowledge base can benefit our consultancy clients.

The first wildflower installations for West Berkshire Council were installed in April 2021, with Meadowscape Pro utilised on two different roundabouts and Wildflower Turf Landscape 34 installed on a road verge. The areas in question have delighted the public with a great deal of positive feedback received on social media. The projects have also been mentioned…

‘The Meadow’ is a triumph of ambitious vision meeting urban design.

It’s not every day you see an elephant in a London park, but take a trip to ‘The Meadow’ and that is exactly what you will find!

Our blog this month focuses on a wonderful London-based project that features a bespoke blend mix of Wildflower Turf® that we designed specifically for this urban design masterpiece.

But let us start at the beginning…

Southwark Council, in conjunction with Lendlease, has embarked on an ambitious project to regenerate 28 acres of land in the centre of the London borough of Elephant and Castle.

The £2.3 billion programme will deliver almost 2,500 new homes, retail and restaurants spaces, new open spaces and improved ‘green’ streets. A brand-new, temporary park, The Meadow, takes centre stage at the heart of the development.

Landscape architects and environmental planners, Gillespies, are the public realm master planner for the entire Elephant Park site, with the programme commencing in 2017.

The overall landscape masterplan aims to establish Elephant Park as one of London’s greenest places to live,…

In honour of World Green Roof Day on Sunday, 6th of June, our blog this month is devoted to all those green spaces positioned at lofty heights!

World Green Roof Day was founded by Chris Bridgman & Dusty Gedge; veterans of the sustainable living roof arena. Now in its second year, the objective of the day is to celebrate green roofs internationally and bring focus to the many benefits they offer to people and nature.

The founders are also board members of the Green Roof Trade Organisation (GRO), the UK trade body that is responsible for the green roof code of practice. (You can read more about GRO here.)

Green roofs are very much a part of the solution to the climate emergency, especially when considering the architecture of our cities. While awareness of green roofs and their benefits has increased in recent years here in the UK, the first modern green roof policy in the world was in Karlsruhe, Germany as far back as 1979. Following on from Karlsruhe, Linz in Austria took up the baton in 1984 and across the German-speaking world green roofs are integral to the urban planning scene.

(Not forgetting, of course, that the true origins of…

As we all look forward to the end of May Bank Holiday and a three day weekend we have another very welcome guest blog from Kristen Chapple; Kristen is the editor and content creator at ecopeanut.com  She is passionate about sustainable living and interior décor with a soft spot for DIY projects.

Despite being tiny creatures, bees play a key role in the sustainability of the ecosystem and agriculture. Most flowers and plants depend on bees as pollinators. Bees also help discourage harmful pests from invading the plants, that is why you should plant bee-friendly plants and flowers in your garden.

Summer heat, however can take a toll on them and prevent them from doing their job. One of the most common misconceptions about bees is that you can just let them go in summer. Well, you could, but this will affect honey production, especially if there is a problem in your beehives. Summer can also be tough on your plants, so here are some unique tips for gardening and beekeeping this summer.

1.   Keep the Beehive Cool

The temperature of the beehive is crucial to the health…

Leave the mower in the shed this month and help local wildlife thrive.

With the easing of lockdown, many of us have raced fervently to the hairdressers. And while it may also be tempting to think about giving our lawn a haircut as well, there are immense garden wildlife benefits to be gained if we leave the mower in the shed for a few more weeks.

British conservation charity Plantlife is encouraging the lawn-loving public to get involved in their Every Flower Counts campaign. Touted as the largest-ever survey of the humble lawn, citizen scientists across the UK are being called upon to take part and get up close and personal with their own patches of green space this month.

Previous campaigns by Plantlife have revealed some fascinating insight. Not only is there an astonishing diversity of wildflowers growing on Britain’s lawns but, incredibly, simple changes in mowing can result in enough nectar for ten times more bees and other pollinators.

Every Flower Counts has previously found that 80% of lawns supported the equivalent of around 400 bees…

Trials but no tribulations in Surrey as our Meadowscape ProTM product is put to the test.

We are indebted to Godalming Town Council for updating us on the success of trials recently undertaken with our Meadowscape ProTM product.

This particular project has its inception with the Godalming Joint Burial Committee desiring to create a colourful and biodiverse UK native wildflower display around the burial grounds at Eashing Cemetery.

With large swathes of existing grassland present (currently mown down annually with large sections of bracken invasion), a trial area in the existing mown turf area was identified with the aim of establishing the most effective way of increasing the wildflower species mix in the existing grasslands.

The council earmarked 2 x 200m2 plots, dividing one into 6 equal sections and the other plot into 2 sections.

The trial was then conducted as follows:

Area 1

The objective for Area 1 was to establish the best method of removing the existing grass sward to enable wildflowers to establish and ultimately thrive. Existing vegetation was to be removed without disturbing the dormant seed bank below.

Sections A and F were left as controls, with…

This month we are featuring a very special project from Rhiannedd Brooke Garden Design.

 If you have happened upon any of our recent advertisements in ProLandscaper magazine, then you may have already glimpsed the gorgeous wildflowers of October House. Installed by Langdale Landscapes, October House is a project very close to the heart of Rhiannedd Brooke. In this month’s Q&A, Rhiannedd explains how the October House project came together.

Do please tell us about Rhiannedd Brooke Garden Design…

I established my garden design business about 18 months ago and have been building up my client base in and around Sevenoaks since then.  Before this, I spent 20 years working in corporate communications for various investment banking and asset management businesses but took a career break when my children were leaving primary school and decided to use the time to learn more about something that I’ve always been passionate about – gardening!

I spent a couple of years doing my RHS Level 2 diploma under the care of the amazingly knowledgeable Tessa Allen at Coolings in Knockholt and loved it so much that I then signed up for a diploma course in garden design at the English…

The ‘Local Places for Nature’ scheme provides benefits for all.

Ahhhh, spring. We can feel its presence as it creeps around the corner of what has been a particularly challenging winter for so many. As we dream of longer, warmer and (dare we say it) sunnier days ahead we also look forward to embracing all the joys that time outside entails.

After a year of lockdowns, the importance of nature and the associated health and wellbeing benefits that green spaces provide have never been so well recognised. Always one step ahead of the curve, the Keep Wales Tidy team have been working to deliver practical action, education and training, and environmental solutions across Wales since the charity began in 1972.

One of our favourite charities to follow on social media throughout lockdown, we’ve been delighted to witness the many benefits that the Keep Wales Tidy ‘Local Places for Nature’ scheme has brought to so many communities in Wales.

This wonderful initiative is part of a wider £5m Welsh Government ‘Local Places for Nature’ fund, committed to acquiring, restoring and enhancing nature. The overriding aim of the scheme is to ensure that everyone is able to…

Meadowscape Pro™  delivers for a private client in Hampshire.

With the start of a fresh year comes the promise of new beginnings and spring. The days are lengthening, and we can all dream of sunnier days and (dare we say it) maybe even begin to make some post-lockdown plans.

This month we thought we’d share a lovely wildflower meadow project with you, and we hope it both delights and inspires.

Not small in size, this 300m2 meadow is the work of a local Hampshire-based company, Adam Vetere Landscape and Garden Design, using our Meadowscape Pro™ product.

The site in question is a new build with spectacular views. The client briefed Adam Vetere with a requirement to add interest to a large area by the house, on a south-facing slope.

Due to the nature of the site and the sizeable area of the proposed wildflower meadow, cost considerations needed to be taken into account. Having previously worked with our Wildflower Turf product, on this occasion it was decided that Meadowscape Pro™ would be a very appropriate option and this alternative has certainly not disappointed. Meadowscape Pro™ is perfect…