The Trust Field Centre, located in the heart of Leckford village, has for many years been surrounded by short mown grass. Easy for maintenance but not the most attractive or biodiverse. As we set ourselves a challenge to increase the profile of the Trust, its work in nature conservation, we thought we should address the look of the grounds of our own building. We decided we needed to “green-up”, or more accurately, “colour-up” our grounds. Not only would this be in-keeping with our ecological ethics, by increasing biodiversity, it would also benefit residents and members of the public passing through the village. It could show how easy it is to increase the attractiveness to wildlife in a garden by turning an area of lawn into a colourful wildflower patch.
In August 2021, the Longstock Park Nursery Landscape team removed an area of short mown grass and laid wildflower turf. The turf grown by a local company contains a typical mixture of UK native, annual and perennial wildflowers and grasses, enriched with some naturalised species to provide a little more interest and colour throughout the year. These plants provide a long period of flowering, which is attractive to pollinators and other invertebrates, mammals and birds. They produce a wonderful range of colours through the seasons, from spring yellows and pinks, to summer red, white and blues, followed by autumn golds and drying seed heads. All attractive to humans too!
Thankfully, the summer of 2021 was not the scorcher we have experienced this year so the turf established well. In just a single growing season the area has been transformed from plain green to a vibrant mix of rainbow colours. All buzzing with bees and butterflies. The patch was admired by many, some stopping to take photos.
In mid-summer 2022 Leckford had its own Superbloom not quite on the scale of the planting in the moat around the Tower of London for the Queen’s Jubilee - but it’s a start.
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