Species Rich – the tough turf that’s easy on insects!

With wildlife struggling and biodiversity at an all time low, gardens, whether in the countryside, suburban areas, or our towns and cities, provide a huge opportunity to reverse the worrying trend.

But the possibilities don’t stop there. Our communities are filled with green spaces, from grass verges along the sides of roads to parks, sports amenities, municipal gardens, and even roundabouts, all of which could become places where wildlife thrives – even if on a small scale.

But how do we achieve this? And how do we do it while still ensuring these places are robust enough to deal with everyday life?

This is where our latest innovation comes in. Here at Lindum Turf, we’ve invested a large amount of R&D into creating a new turf product aimed at aiding the recovery of nature, whilst still being tough enough to stand up to people walking on it and the general wear and tear that grass undergoes.

We call it Species Rich and it is an 80/20 hardy mix of wildflowers and grass. In fact, it consists of 21 different types of wildflowers and 10 different grasses which is the reason it got its name. I’'s already gaining popularity among gardeners, amenities managers and local authorities wanting to make their regions more sustainable. 

Wildflower Meadow Effect

We developed it due to the growing popularity of the wildflower meadow effect. Many people are keen to dispense with their traditional monocrop lawn, which does little for biodiversity, and replace it with a wildflower meadow in their gardens.

Not only does this bring a splash of colour to a property, but it also helps people do their bit for wildlife, especially the vital pollinators that make life on earth possible.

The problem with wildflower meadows, however, is they can be too fragile to stand up to the rigours of family life, meaning they’re not the best direct replacement for a lawn.

Species Rich turf has been specifically designed to solve this problem by combining hardy wildflowers with tough grass varieties, meaning you can have a lawn that is good for wildlife while at the same time, still allows your kids to play football on it, ride bikes and generally play as they always have.

Stephen Fell, Managing Director of Lindum Turf, said each of the different plants in Species Rich had been carefully selected to create the desired effect.

“We spent a long time experimenting with different combinations of plants,” Stephen said.

“The secret is to select a variety of non-competitive grasses that will withstand being walked on and intersperse these with wildflowers and clovers that don’t grow too high, but will attract plenty of insects.

“Once we had got this right, we knew we had created a versatile lawn that could replace standard grass, but would significantly increase the biodiversity of the entire garden.

“If you let this turf grow out a little rather than cutting it back every couple of weeks, it is amazing to see the amount of wildlife it will attract. Your garden will literally come alive.”

More Plants Means Greater Biodiversity

Stephen added that only by increasing the number and variety of plants in a garden could biodiversity be improved.

However, he said there is a myth that the same effect can be achieved simply by letting a conventional lawn grow longer, which simply isn’t the case.

“If a plant isn’t there in the first place it cannot grow. It is as simple as that,” he said.

“So, if you leave your lawn to grow out, but it is a conventional monocrop grass lawn grown from seed, the grass will just get longer. Few other plants will come through.

“This is the problem with initiatives like No Mow May. They do nothing for biodiversity because all people are doing is letting the grass grow out a bit. Then, after just a month, they can cut it again.

“The only way to increase the biodiversity of your garden is to increase the biodiversity in your garden. Having a hardy lawn that has a large variety of different species in it will achieve that and will do far more good than simply letting a conventional lawn grow out for a few weeks.”

Not Too Tall

As well as being created to directly replace domestic lawns, helping people to bring more colour to their garden while providing an attractive environment for wildlife, Species Rich has also been designed for us in municipal settings, too.

This might include parks, where whole swaths of grassland could be replaced by Species Rich to vastly increase the sustainability of the area, or the margins of amenities such as golf courses, where the extra variety of plants would attract bees and butterflies, making the environment even more pleasant.

However, the turf is also designed to be used around traffic infrastructure such as roadsides, pavements, and roundabouts.

Here, it is in the selection of wildflower species that the turf excels in this area.

The wildflowers contained in Species Rich have been selected so that they don’t grow too tall. Not only does this make the turf suitable as a direct replacement for a domestic lawn, it also ensures in highway settings, it doesn’t grow to such a height that it could interfere with drivers’ vision.

Stephen Fell said: “Species Rich is extremely durable and can be used in a variety of settings that other wildflower turfs wouldn’t be able to cope with.

“But it has also been designed with other functions in mind, and chief among this is not blocking the view of motorists when used in roadside or highway settings.”

Plastic Free

Along with Lindum’s Wildflower Turf, Species Rich Turf is grown on a plastic-free growing medium, meaning unlike many other brands, laying it does not introduce single-use, non-biodegradable plastics into the soil.

Sadly, large amounts of turf grown in the UK still utilises a plastic growing mesh to hold the turf together, but once buried, this breaks down into microplastics which pollute the soil and can even get into local watercourses.

Stephen described this practice as ‘incompatible with enhancing the environment’.

“We’re on a mission to ensure that our turf enhances the natural environment and improves biodiversity in every situation in which it is used,” he said.

“That is why we use a 100% natural, non-polluting growing medium. As an industry, we need to be making steps towards protecting our planet, not polluting it further which is why whatever turf you choose, always ensure it is plastic free.”

To find out more about Lindum’s Species Rich turf, click here.