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Wild flower areas

Published: 25 June 2023

Wildflower areas

Sold on the idea of creating a wildflower meadow? It seems sensible to feel a little conflicted on the topic of wildflower meadows. On one hand there is the romantic notion that it would be brilliant if we could reinstate swathes of the parish/countryside with grasslands dotted with native wildflowers. However, pragmatically, recreating perennial wildflower meadows is not that easy and they are happiest on poor soils. And don’t believe any seed packets or distributors that imply you just throw in a seed mix and away you go.

Annual meadows tend to be more spectacular with, for example, poppies and cornflowers. Perennial meadows  will have more grasses and less dramatic flowers.

Both types require a lot of preparation of the ground. Annual meadows mimic cereal fields and so need to be disturbed/ploughed and largely reseeded every year. For perennial meadows it is usually necessary to reduce the fertility by stripping off some inches of and/or even treating the soil, For both, this will probably need to be followed by a year or so of vigorous weeding and digging up of docks, brambles nettles etc, plus probably some months under black plastic or cardboard to suppress all undesirable regrowth. Growing and removing cover crops helps to reduce the nutrient levels. Working the soil to produce a fine tilth completes the preparation, but this will not be within days or even weeks of starting the wildflower meadow project. Waiting time would be well spent making sure the proposed meadow is not shaded by overhanging vegetation, and by growing seedlings of local wild plants from seed gathered nearby. These “plug plants” can be added to the meadow later.

Choosing and sowing the seed seems the culmination of the process but too often there are yet more conflicting considerations. Commercial wildflower mixes can contain limited numbers of species, imported varieties, or those used primarily for agricultural swards. It can be argued that seeds of “local provenance”, even if difficult to get in quantity, are best adapted to the area, and that sowing them restores population sizes, genetic diversity, seasonality, and provides good habitat for local pollinators and other animals. Alternatively it can also be argued that impending climate change may be altering the geographical ranges of wildflower species, and so introducing new variants would assist beneficial species adaptation and evolution. In addition some seeds require pre-treatment or stratification which may not have been done before sale. Once the chosen seed is spread at the recommended rate on the prepared soil and trodden in, usually in autumn, it may be necessary at first to water the area and/or cover it with something to stop the birds taking the seed.

If and when some seedlings emerge human excitement may be high, but some species will inevitably do better than others due to weather, soil and competition. Grasses are often dismissed as dull components of the sward but will provide good soil coverage in winter when some of the flowering plants are dormant. Grasses are good habitat for many small animals and keep the soil warm and moist and there may be a crop of beautiful fungi each autumn. The perennial flowering plants are still there but dormant as are the seeds of annuals. Grasses are also a major benefit in a wildflower meadow maintenance routine, reducing the workload. But, if the grasses really do need reducing, competitive yellow rattle or eyebright can be sown in.

Many well intentioned efforts to establish wildflower meadows result in scrubby species-poor swards due to lack of after-care. Ongoing maintenance includes endless spot weeding of invasive docks etc and “mowing”. The purpose of a flower is to get pollinated and set seed to perpetuate the species. Once this is done, an annual plant will die, and a perennial will concentrate on strengthening the mother plant and surviving the winter. So when the seed has been set, it is time to remove the excess vegetation that may smother the mother plants. In the early years a light “mow” late summer in dry weather will encourage seed drop but for perennial meadows it is crucial to remove the cuttings after a few days to avoid increasing the nutrients in the soil. Late summer is usually the right time to cut. The cut is ideally done using hand tools so that the height can be varied and selective and create a mosaic habitat. Strimmers and mowers cut more uniformly and throw fragments too small to be raked up onto the soil. These then rot down undoing the good work hopefully done in preparation. Still keen to go ahead?

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