Are you considering a wild area in your garden, do you love the idea of being submerged in wildflowers this summer. If a wildflower meadow is a possible garden project for 2016, let Wildflower Turf convince you why it should be on top of your list.
1. Species biodiversity. The wonderful thing about a wildflower meadow is that it is an ever changing picture with new species to spot each week through the Spring and Summer. Our landscape turf has 34 different species of native wildflowers and it is great to get to know them all as they appear through the spring and summer months.
2. A wildlife haven. From the tiniest flying insects to colourful butterflies and moths, from larks and finches to barn owls and red kites your meadow will become home to a major food source for a wide range of wildlife. Pollinators such as wild bumble bees, moths, butterflies, wasps, beetles, hoverflies as well as honey bees have faced serious difficulty over the last 100 years with habitat loss, pesticides and the depletion of nectar sources. Without them, our £210bn per year food industry would be in serious difficulty, as well as our gardens and countryside looking far less beautiful. By adding an area of wildflower into your garden you are providing a rich and essential food source for pollinators and have the reward of seeing pretty winged insects come into your garden.
3. Garden Design Opportunities. Whether you live in a smaller urban garden or rambling rural retreat a wildflower area provides all sorts of design opportunities. The juxtaposition of sharp paved or mown lines with the wispy nature of the wildflower is perfect in town gardens and roofs. Whilst in rural areas a meadow can be a linking tool from kept borders to fields, or in areas of a garden where other species might find it more difficult to grow, being drought tolerant and requiring low nutrients, a wildflower meadow will survive on the most barren of land. Let you imagination run wild.
4. Colour. If colour is your thing then annuals and non-native wildflowers are likely to excite you. With a fantastic array of bold vibrant colour, our Border Turf will be just up your street. You can expect a wildflower rainbow from April to September.
5. Low Maintenance – If you are having trouble with an existing area of a garden, an area to big to manage, an area too nutrient starved to grow much, or an area infested with weeds, then a wildflower meadow could solve your problems. Apart from the initial preparation of the soil, which means ridding it from weeds and creating a light tilth, there is little more that will be needed over the year. The turf is very quick to establish, requires no further input in the way of fertiliser, if laid in the summer it might require a small amount of watering in but it is particularly drought tolerant and the dense root bed of the Wildflower Turf also acts as weed prevention, virtually impossible for weeds to penetrate through.
Are you spending hours in the summer mowing lawns, fed up of walking up and down in straight lines? Did you know that a wildflower meadow only requires one mow a year, normally in the Autumn time, clearing all of the arisings so as not to allow rotting material to re-nutrify the soil.
6. Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas emissions. Wildflower areas in urban environments have been found to offer the most optimum green structure for pollution removal. Different leaf forms provide a more complex surface so capturing a wider range of pollutant types. They have the potential for a net removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Reduced mowing, fertizlisation, pesticide and herbicide treatments of wildflower areas will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution associated with these practices.
7. Quick, Guaranteed Results with Wildflower Turf. If you want quick results and be able to sit back and enjoy a low maintenance, wildlife haven this year then Wildflower Turf can guarantee you a meadow very quickly. The bare root bed of the turf establishes incredibly quickly onto prepared soil and if you were to lay wildflower turf in March or April you would certainly be sat in a glorious meadow by May.The images below show a turf installation in late April with results by the end of July.
8. Cost. The management of wild flower areas is estimated to be half the cost of a non-wild flower managed alternative. Being drought tolerant and low nutrient loving – wildflowers require very little in the way of inputs such as irrigation and fertiliser. The greatly reduced requirement for mowing means there is saving in time but also petrol required for your mower. And finally, once you have created a meadow, there is no requirement for replanting, it is truly a sustainable landscape that can be in existence for as long as it is wanted.
9. Happy Customers for years to come – a long term landscape solution. Whether you are developing a wildflower area yourself or creating a meadow for a client, then you will be safe in the knowledge that Wildflower Turf is a solution that works. It can be laid at any time of the year except when there is ground frost, it is really quick to establish and will give you immediate green cover on bare soil. It is a natural weed suppressant and will require little input from you over the years. We first laid Wildflower Turf around an irrigation lake over 10 years ago. The pictures below shows how it looked after 6 weeks of laying. The children in the picture were then 6 and 4. They are now 18 and 16, less keen to be in the 2015 picture, but it shows you what incredible longevity a wildflower meadow has, with minimal input and maximum biodiversity, wildlife and feel good factors.
10. Tranquility, peace and quiet and sense of mental well-being. There is nothing like sitting among the wildflowers, submerged in their beauty. We now know for sure that there are huge benefits to being within beautiful green spaces, providing long term benefits to mental health.
If you need any more persuasion, why not seek out your local wildflower expert. We have over 200 Accredited Wildflower Installers throughout the country. They are listed on our Installer Pages and are fully trained in the preparation, installation and maintenance of our full range of products. Using our postcode search tool you can find a selection of installers that are close by.
Make it the year of wildflower meadows and in so doing, give one of the biggest charitable donations you could possibly make to nature and the natural environment.