Turning Your Lawn Into A Wildflower Meadow

In the first article about creating a wildflower meadow in your garden, we looked at using the margins to surround your lawn with a glorious sea of colour.

Our wildflower turf provides the best solution for this, as all the hard work has been done in terms of sowing and propagating the seeds.

The great thing about wildflower turf is that it consists only of wildflowers, with no grass varieties in the seed mix, meaning the density of wildflowers is optimised in the margins of your garden.

Not only will this look fantastic for many months during the year, but it will also significantly increase the number of butterflies, bees, and other vital pollinators that visit your garden.

But what about those who want to go further than this and create a wildflower effect across their entire lawn? Can this be done, and if so, how do you go about it? That’s what we’re discussing in part two of our creating a wildflower meadow in your garden series.

Is Wildflower Turf Appropriate For Creating A Wildflower Meadow Lawn?

Our wildflower turf is densely packed with a variety of flowers that create a glorious sea of colour wherever it is laid. But is it appropriate for a full lawn?

The answer is no. There are several reasons for this, but the main ones are that the turf doesn’t contain any grass – it is entirely made up of wildflowers – which means it is too densely packed to form a lawn. Also, the flowers grow to a significant height, making it difficult to walk over without flattening them.

So, what are you options?

How To Create A Wildflower Lawn

Creating a wildflower meadow effect in your lawn is different from creating the same effect in the margins of your garden because most people still want to walk on the lawn or, if they have a young family, for their children to be able to play on it.

Therefore, a hardier solution is required.

To create a wildflower lawn, the best turf to lay is a ‘species rich’ variety that contains a mixture of grasses, clovers, and low growing wildflowers specifically chosen to look fantastic and bring all the environmental benefits of a wildflower meadow, while being able to withstand the wear and tear of everyday use.

Like wildflower turf, species rich varieties can be cut short to look like a traditional, mowed lawn, but they are at their best when maintained less often and allowed to grow a bit. As with wildflower turf, this not only produces vibrant colours, but also attracts pollinators so is better for the environment.

How Long Does It Take For Wildflowers to Grow?

Once people decide to create a wildflower lawn, they are understandably eager to see the results of their hard work. As a result, we’re often asked how long it takes for wildflowers to grow.

The answer depends on how you try to grow them. If you’re starting with seed, you will need to do some preparation work. The planting areas must be prepped to a high standard with all the greenery removed to ensure that once germinated, the seeds have enough light to grow.

Sufficient water is also essential and the planted area must not be allowed to dry out, otherwise the seeds will die.

However, if all goes according to plan and the seeds survive, they will take 10 to 12 weeks to grow into a recognisable plant form and should flower sometime after that, depending on time of year.

With turfs, the hard work of propagating the seeds has been done for you. Instead of planting seeds, all you need to do is lay the turf and water it and at the right time of year, flowers will soon appear.

Other Wildflower Garden Ideas

What can you do if you don’t have a lawn area, or large space to create the meadow effect?

Wildflower and species rich turfs is can be sold in low quantities, meaning it is perfect for creating a meadow effect even in the smallest of places. If you don’t have a lawn area, you could always consider a raising bed. Use poor quality soil to create a good depth to the bed, and then lay the turf on the top. Correctly watered, this should continue flourishing for years to come and be a joy to look at.

Do Wildflowers Die In Winter And Come Back Every Year?

The great thing about wildflower lawns and gardens is they keep on giving. The wildflowers within them produce seeds every year and shed these to grow into the next generation of flowering plants.

By cutting your wildflower lawn once it is finished flowering, and removing the cuttings, you will ensure the seeds and smaller, growing plants, get plenty of access to sunlight and water. This means the process to producing a beautiful, colourful, wildflower meadow effect in your lawn starts over again, helping you derive even more pleasure from the garden you have worked so hard to produce.

Always Choose Plastic Free

We made this point in first part of the series, but it is worth making again.

Whether you’re buying wildflower turf or species rich turf, always ensure you buy a plastic-free variety.

Growing turf on a plastic mesh which gets buried under the soil to degrade into microplastics is, in our view, no longer acceptable. It pollutes the environment and gets into the food chain. It is the opposite of sustainability and if you’re creating your wildflower meadow to attract pollinators and do your bit for the environment, burying single use plastics is not the way.

So, always ensure you choose a plastic free turf.

Our Species Rich Turf is grown on a natural media and is 100% plastic free. To find out more about it, click here or call us on (01904) 448675.