Create a Wildflower Meadow

A wildflower meadow is a nature-friendly feature that can replace a lawn or take up part of a lawn, to the benefit of many pollinators and other wildlife. In the UK, traditional wildflower meadows have declined by more than 97 per cent since the 1930’s, so by creating a wildflower meadow at home, no matter how small, you can make a huge difference to declining species.

Wildflower meadows are incredibly diverse, offering a rich mix of flowers for pollinators, grasses for butterflies and moths to lay their eggs on, and shelter for anything from grasshoppers and crickets, beetles, hedgehogs, and amphibians. In turn, the greater density of insects in a wildflower meadow provides food for birds and bats.

A traditional wildflower meadow is an area of perennial grasses and wildflowers, which is cut for hay in late summer and then grazed by animals such as cows until early spring. This creates an even sward where wildflowers aren’t out-grown by competitive grasses, and where woody perennials, such as trees and shrubs, don’t take over.

In a garden situation, this can be replicated in an area of any size, where wildflowers are sown or planted among perennial grasses for a beautiful summer display. This is then cut in late summer and kept short until early spring. Most meadow flowers are long-lived perennials such as red and white clover, ox-eye daisy, greater knapweed, cowslip, primrose, and birds-foot trefoil, with some annual species like yellow rattle, a semi-parasite of grass, helping to further control grass growth. The balance of species tends to change over time, depending on the soil type and how you manage the space.

Other types of garden meadow include annual meadows, which are planted with