Wildflower Turf and Green Roofs Blog

We like to keep in touch with our clients, and that means finding out how their projects have developed, as well as how our Wildflower Turf is getting on.
Additionally it is also a way of providing support and after care, which we feel is very important, because we are here to help and advise where we can. We are also keen to learn and expand on our existing pool of knowledge.

Here are just a few examples of some of our client’s projects, which have all added biodiversity to their sites from just installing our Wildflower Turf. These projects also illustrate the diverse application of our Wildflower Turf…

First two images top left: Treesaurus have shown innovation in their design of this bike store for a garden in London. This project illustrates that by installing just a few square metres of Wildflower Roof Turf you can have both an aesthetically pleasing and functional storage facility. Once summer arrives the roof will be in full bloom and buzzing with bees and pollinating insects!

Top right image: This garden highlights how you can easily encourage foot traffic by mowing a path through the wildflower meadow. The meadow blends into the surrounding landscape providing a wildlife corridor to and from the adjacent habitats.

Bottom two images on left: Helen Thomas a garden designer, decided to install our Wildflower Turf in her own garden, and fellow garden designer Lisa Cox visited her to see how she got on. Helen had an existing wild area in her garden,  and decided to introduce a pond.  Rather than seeding the areas around the pond in order to link them to the existing wild flower meadow, she decided to use our turf instead. These images are just 7 months after installation, and both Helen and Lisa were very impressed with the results.

Bottom right image: Carolyn Harden exhibited at the Tatton Park show, and has incorporated a wildflower meadow with the clever use of logs which provides a very natural and sustainable screening or fencing solution for any garden.

If you would like us to consider featuring your project on one of our blogs, or even include it as a case study on our website, than please get in touch: wildflower@wildflowerturf.co.uk, we would be happy to hear from you.

Thank you to everyone who have supplied us with these images.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!

Santa thought our Wildflower roof made an excellent landing pad here at Ashe Warren Farm!!

From the team at Wildflower Turf Limited

Seaview Primary, Seaham, Co.Durham

Chris Dodds Garden Design & Construction were asked to transform an area made up of mainly worn out lawn at Seaview Primary School.

The worn out lawn - plenty of room for improvement!

The area as it was, looked very bare and stark, so there was not much incentive for the children to enjoy this outdoor space, as the picture above illustrates.

Firstly it was necessary to clear away the dead shrubs and grass. Secondly some additional paving next to a walk-in play sand pit was installed, along with some bark pathways.

Last but not least… The last part of the project was to lay 52m² of Wildflower Turf. Chris commented, “despite only being laid in July 2011, the new turf quickly established and has provided colour and interest right up to Christmas.”

The area has been instantly transformed into a wildflower meadow

The Wildflower Turf - looking healthy ready to cope with the winter months

Thanks to Chris for the photos, we are really pleased the meadow has brightened up the site.

During the spring and summer months, the turf will take on a whole new look and be very colourful, with tall flowering perennials and soft swaying grasses, which will provide plenty of inspiration for everyone! It will also provide a perfect setting for use as an outdoor classroom, for the children to learn about butterflies, bees, invertebrates, mammals, birds… in general biodiversity! What wildlife will they discover…

Turf…Although the initial cost of turf is higher than seed, with Wildflower Turf you are guaranteed a meadow without the need for too much work. The meadow is established the day the turf is laid.
We can also provide you with details of what to expect and how to manage the area, thanks to years of experience and expertise here at Wildflower Turf Limited.

Close-up of Wildflower Turf

Seed… Although the initial cost is lower, the time between seeding and being able to enjoy a wildflower meadow is not only long,  but additionally because seeding is less reliable, the risk of failure is considerably high. Added to this the fact that in order to achieve a meadow by seed, a great deal of work is required….the decision is quite an easy one. Turf over seed any day!

Please ring 01256 771222 and we will be happy to discuss your project with you.

Wildflower Turf - an instant meadow without any hard work!

We can also supply a cost analysis showing a breakdown of all the costs of establishing a wildflower meadow comparing seed against turf.

A few weeks ago we posted a blog asking if anyone could identify a little beetle we had filmed and photographed on our Wildflower Turf back in September.

Here is a reminder of what the bug looked like…

Thanks to David Plunton from Dean Rural Services we now believe that it is a shield bug! David thinks that it is a Gorse Shieldbug (Piezodorus literatus) to be precise. David is investigating further to confirm his theory.

It would seem that this is actually the shield bug nymph and not the adult shield bug, which incidentally looks quite different.

Did you know…Although shield bugs resemble beetles, they differ because they have sucking mouthparts instead of mandibles.

How may species are there? In Britain there are 4 different families of Shieldbug;
Acanthosomatidae,
Cydnidae,
Scutelleridae, and
Pentatomidae.
This means that the number of species that can be found in the UK is about 45…worldwide however, there may be over 5000 species!

Unlike butterflies and moths which undergo ‘complete’ metamorphosis, shield bugs hatch from the egg as small simple forms of the adult.
In order to accommodate a larger body size, they have to molt their outer exoskeleton.  With each molt they take on some of the adult characteristics, before they actually become fully formed adults. They undergo four molts before they become adults.

All in all, these are rather fascinating little bugs!

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.”

The meadow copes well on a mound helping to stabilize the soil

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.”

The meadow sits perfectly with the surrounding landscape and decking area

Gillian made an interesting comment on how the character of the meadow turf varies depending on its aspect.  At the side of the annexe it is shadier, and a different population of wild flowers can be found, compared to the open area to the south.  This is a natural characteristic of a wildflower meadow.
The wildflowers which are more adapted to cope well with some shade will perform really well because they are more shade tolerant.
These contrasting areas of meadow provide different habitats which also add diversity to the site. This reflects the mix that we have chosen; allowing for a variety of soil types and environmental conditions.

The meadow enhances the setting of these mature trees

Another natural characteristic of the meadow Gillian noticed was a changing pallete of colour. Gillian has enjoyed seeing the pink campion and ragged robin early on, followed by ox-eye daisies later on in the season, which has attracted a host of moths and butterflies.

Thanks to Gillian for providing us with these amazing photos.

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.

Boxing Hares by Theodore Gillick

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, ‘Mad as a March Hare’ is derived from the fact that an unreceptive female will ‘box’ with an amorous male. The mating season generally starts at the beginning of March or late February if the weather is warm enough.
The European or Brown Hare Lepus europaeus is the fastest land mammal in the UK, and can reach speeds of up to 45mph!

Another bronze sculpture by Theodore Gillick is this elegant Reed Warbler, which is an unusual piece, and displays equally well indoors as it does outdoors…  Indeed many clients mention that their Warbler migrates each spring to the garden, returning to the fireside for the colder months.

The Warbler would make a wonderful feature in any garden