Title image of volunteers planting wildflowers at Saunders Park in Brighton. Image credit Jess Mead.
As part of the Changing Chalk – Greening the Cities project, we’re working to create several new wildflower patches across the Living Coast area. These wildflower areas will be filled with species classically found in the Chalk Grassland habitats of the South Downs. The project aims to bring a little slice of the Downs into towns to help people connect with this globally rare habitat as well as providing important stepping stones for pollinating insects in our urban environment.
Our newest wildflower patch is in Saunders Park, Brighton. This park sits along the busy Lewes Road and one corner of it is home to a community garden managed by Brighton and Hove Food Partnership. This little quiet spot will now be a wonderful habitat for pollinating insects with wildflowers in flower from March right through to October.
Photos of Saunders Park before planting. Red circled area is the area of bramble and willow to be planted with wildflowers. Image credit Mike Luscombe.
There was a knee-high willow tree within the chosen area, and it was a little overgrown with brambles; the perfect slightly unloved patch to transform!
Photo of the area to be planted during preparation work. Image credit Jess Mead.
The Wildflower Guardians volunteer group spent a morning digging out the roots of the bramble and willow to clear the area ready for planting. Everyone got very stuck into the challenge, and a 50m2 area was prepared ahead of the arrival of the wildflowers.
Wildflower Guardians volunteers getting stuck into pulling bramble and willow roots to prepare the area for planting. Image credit Jess Mead.
At the end of October, we then worked with volunteers from the community garden to plant 250 wildflower plants and spread some Yellow Rattle seeds across the area. Yellow rattle is often called the “meadow maker” as when it grows, it becomes a parasite of grass, which weakens the dominant grasses and allows the wildflowers to thrive. The wildflowers were grown by The Wildflower Conservation Society from locally, hand collected seeds. As this was a wildflower area within the community garden, we made sure to include some species of wild herb including Wild Marjoram and other edible plants like Salad Burnet and Wild Strawberry.
Wildflowers planted in Saunders Park. Top row, left to right: Yellow Rattle, Small Scabious, Cow Slip. Bottom row, left to right: Salad Burnet, Kidney Vetch, Wild Marjoram. Image credits: Mike Luscombe
The volunteers did an incredible job, getting the plants in the ground in record fast time. We’re so excited to see how the patch develops and can’t wait to see them start to flowers next spring.
The Wildflower Guardians are a friendly and inclusive group who learn together, sharing their skills whilst working “hands-on” alongside each other. They travel across the city to wherever our wildflower sites need attention and often join forces with local groups to provide extra hands (& experience) where it’s needed.
To find out more, e-mail: wildflower.guardians@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Greening the Cities is a Changing Chalk Project hosted by The Living Coast.
The Changing Chalk Partnership is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and led by the National Trust
The Wildflower Conservation Society are a volunteer led community group working to conserve our chalk grasslands.
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