Monmouthshire urban flower displays are putting bees first

MONMOUTHSHIRE County Council is winning plaudits from both the public and wildlife experts with outstanding results from Euroflor urban meadow flower mixes.

On arriving in Monmouthshire, visitors see a bee symbol on welcome signs to indicate the work the council is doing to encourage pollinating insects and to acknowledge the recently introduced Pollinator Policy.

Nigel Leaworthy, operations manager for landscape and grounds maintenance, says, “The displays of Euroflor urban flower seed mixes ticked so many boxes in relation to the Pollinator Policy, i.e. no plants grown within green houses, no travelling to the individual sites once planted to weed every 2 weeks, no watering etc.”

Tenor and Classic (perennial and annual) were sown on roundabouts and roadsides, and attracted hundreds of letters of praise from the public.

“We identified strategic locations where urban flower mixes would look best – roundabouts, housing estates, trunk roads and motorways –and determined that flower mixes would do away with 85 per cent of our annual bedding and providing savings in excess of £40,000 per annum.” he says.

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Gloucester City Council

Paul Sutlow, senior grounds maintenance supervisor for Amey, and his team, working in partnership with Gloucester City Council and Gloucester City Homes, have designed a fabulous garden for the public to enjoy.

Paul believes that Euroflor mixes from Rigby Taylor are saving money and have an increased impact for the public.

“We’ve had unprecedented numbers of comments about our various urban meadow plantings,” he says. “And other local authorities have taken an interest in the impact they have had. Urban flower mixes are low maintenance and have multiple wildlife benefits.”

Gloucester City Council and Amey initially started with sowing roundabouts in 2011. This evolved into a programme of meadows located beside the City’s primary roads, on verges and at junctions, providing maximum impact

Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council

In 2014 Doncaster council trialed three areas of wildflower planting with a variety of Euroflor seed mixes. Low ground cover plants were sown along a central reservation with more naturalistic plants along a wide grass verge.

“We were looking at ways to reduce grass cutting and wildflower planting was an option, stated Gill Gillies Assistant Director Environment Doncaster Council.

“The areas were in full bloom throughout the summer prompting an influx of compliments on social media.” Comments ranged from ‘an amazing entrance into Doncaster’ to ‘an enormous benefit to an abundance of wildlife’

Due to last year’s success Doncaster council extend the project further across the borough in 2015.

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Newport, South Wales

EUROFLOR flower displays in Newport, South Wales, have attracted hundreds of complimentary letters from residents, says Phillip Evans, supervisor of the Street Scene city grounds team.

“We have five areas and half a dozen different sites where we have sown the Classic and Rainbow mixes,” says Phillip.

“Over the last three years we have tried various Euroflor mixes, including perennial, but these two annual mixes have given us consistently good coverage results with cosmos flowers going right into November last year.

“We aim to create a feel good factor throughout the city and these mixes give us five phases of colour throughout the season.”

Initially landscape architects were reluctant to use the annual mixes instead of formal bedding plants but Phillip has demonstrated that the sustainability of general flower sowing gave them the “wow” factor.

“We are incredibly proud of the city and it is amazing that the formal bedding areas in the two main parks get about 10 letters of praise a year – while the Euroflor urban flower displays get about a hundred.”

“The public reaction has been tremendous.”