Top Tips for Creating a Wildflower Meadow

[@DRJMF1]

Sweet Irish lady who knows her subject, everyone shold be doing this in their garden to offset species loss on intensively farm land in UK.

[@schnder1]

Inspiring. We purchased undeveloped land that is a 3 acre meadow surrounded by a wildlife corridor. I fell on love with the land and wish to restore it in order to benefit wildlife. In our third year we now have flowers that were not here before. It is so inspiring to see nature take over land. We are trying to help where we can and stay out of the way of natures progress. It is wonderful to see new birds, plants and insects. I applaud those with the goals to support nature where we can, a balcony or a yard.

[@mrstacyj9496]

thank you, Dr FitzPatrick - here in Illinois, USA (in our little flower beds and tiny yard) we're trying to encourage native prairie wildflowers - good luck!

[@cheffrey82]

What a wonderful video - informative and relaxing at the same time! Such a shame so many of our wildflower meadows have vanished in the last 80 years but hopefully more can be restored

[@tommybreen9677]

3rd year doing it now, on a hot summer day the amount of pollinators is amazing. Probably the only person in my estate doing it though which is sad. You literally have to do nothing just let nature go

[@ellydavis2066]

On the sign in the public meadows you could add a note about not visiting their to capture the butterflies, I saw one guy there with a net.

[@conservationcorrigan]

Awesome video, thankyou! I work for a gardening company and we have just secured our first wild flower meadow project, converting a grass bank to a bank full of wildflowers! Its exciting and this video has offered some great ideas. thanks

[@stephaniemetzner9898]

So schöne Bilder, so schön erklärt. Danke!:)💚

[@postie10111]

Great vid, well explained. Just starting out on a wildflower meadow on an enclosed and fenced off space on a new build estate, here in the UK. First wild flowers came out in the last week! Only ox-eye daisies and white campion, ragged robin, but it's a start. :)

[@sofielys5452]

Getting started right away!

[@Stu_Pedazzo]

This video is like a relaxing head massage.

[@geoffdorrington9567]

A delightful video, informative and relaxing, thanks for posting. I have been creating a mini-meadow in the middle of my back lawn over the last few years and the yellow rattle, which I introduced from seed, is now well established, to the extent that although I do collect the seeds and resow them in the meadow each autumn, it's no longer really necessary because the plant has self-seeded all over the place. The yellow rattle has really helped increase the variety of wildflowers coming through naturally and I have also helped matters along by inserting plug plants into the meadow. Even though it is only about six feet by six feet and located in a suburban garden, my meadow always seems to have beetles, grasshoppers, bees, hoverflies, shield bugs and other insects in it in the warmer months, as well as a few butterflies (even a green hairstreak once) and moths. I find it such a fascinating and rewarding garden project.

[@peterstevens6555]

W0W !!! That Looks Great, Merry Christmas from Auckland, New Zealand ...😊😊😊

[@ellcharlotte]

Amazing video! Thank you. I’m starting a wildflower meadow on my garden. It’s nice to see it’s from an industrial point of view also. Thank you for spreading awareness for pollinators. We need more videos like this!

[@janjander152]

Very helpful, thank you for sharing wildflower meadow information. These meadows are inspiring. I especially love your plant names and mowing schedules.

[@valeriadinicola]

In italiano

[@hemanteegriffin4356]

Love it relaxing and soothing to watch and enjoy

[@davidsmullen87]

Enjoyed your video on wildflower tips Una. If we could just educate people in and around housing estates church grounds schools etc of the benefits of native wildflower meadows instead of manicuring green areas just creating green desert's that nothing lives in and at a time we are trying to reduce our harmful emissions by sending tonnes of diesel into the atmosphere with continuous mowing each year. Wildflower meadows are the way to go.

[@danno1800]

Very beautiful - and you explained it very well. Thank you - much appreciated!

[@M00Nature]

In the US, we usually don't cut the meadow until late winter/early spring. This leaves cover and food for wildlife during the winter.

[@theplaguedoctor6456]

such a soothing voice

[@lamegalectora]

Absolutely brilliant!!! Thank you 🙏

[@vonwillful]

Awesome advice. Thank you!

[@indigenousandexoticflora8000]

Thanks for the information 👍

[@italianbirdvideos6190]

Such good advice.

[@davidcampbell4429]

Great video

[@lejimmy]

good video. The one difference I noted between these suggestions and others I've seen is the timing of the hay cut. August is the most commonly cited month for a hay cut, at least for english growers anyway. Is september deemed more suitable for the irish climate or is there some other reason for it?

[@angobansoar8174]

A brilliant wee video. I absolutely love the "Short Flowering Meadow". It is fantastic. I love them all, but the short flowering is more practical. Question is Una where can one get seeds specifically for that purpose. Short flowering.

[@stevencraig1871]

Get in touch with Meadow mania, they will help you.

[@deirdreoleary2854]

The point of this kind of meadow is that the native seeds are already there in the soil. If you are doing this for pollinators and all the other essential native insects, then the seeds that are already in your soil are the ones they desperately need, not anything bought in. So just mowing every 6-8 weeks instead of every two weeks will allow the clover and dandelions and plantain to grow.

[@conallflickr]

such a great video - very useful

[@marianwhit]

Please be aware that if you are not in Europe, this may not work for you...many of the plants I see are invasive in North America where I live, so these instructions will help your invasive European plants do well!

[@naomiashworth8111]

Wonderful video, thank you. I'm trying to devise a plan to create wetland habitat & mixed species grass/wildflower meadow on our 10 acres. Can anybody advise me on a low impact way of preparing the soil before planting wildflower seed? Currently it's overgrown grass, that had been previously grazed. I know i'll need a machinary given the size, but want to have a little impact on the soil health as possible. Any advice very welcome. Thanks in advance!

[@Earthyman44]

Excellent

[@fablan3308]

When's the best time to plant your wildflower meadow seeds and how long do they take to I've just planted think I'm a bit late

[@therobsterisalobster]

For a perennial meadow about September or October is about right to sow and establish

[@deirdreoleary2854]

The advice from the All Ireland Pollinator Plan is don’t buy in seed. Just mow less and allow the seeds that are in the soil to grow. They’re already there and exactly what your native insects need.

[@angel21991]

Doesn't cutting the meadow in September disrupt the insects hibernating in those grasslands?

[@-Atmos1]

Interesting

[@joansmith3492]

It makes zero sense to me to mow and throw away the clippings in September.

[@RealBradMiller]

Compost them! Dry them over a tarp and shake them to see what seeds were formed and start a whole other field!

[@danielenriquecallejo3564]

What happens with all the existing wildlife that already has been established in the meadow like catterpillars and other invertebrates? It's not just all about the beauty of the flowers. Wildlife cycle involves 365 days a year. I'm not surprised that insect population is in serious decline with this type of mowing regimes, where a entire field is reduced to nothing because the meadow lost is beauty.

[@Littlelamb2023]

so what's your solution? just have flat lawns everywhere?

[@danielenriquecallejo3564]

@@Littlelamb2023 , I haven't said anything about flat lawns. What I mean is that one all the wildflowers have grown, instead of mowing them there should be a patch left for wildlife to do their life cycle. Wildflowers are gonna attack polinators but some of them might leave their next generation in some plants so when you mown you are gonna wiped out all the caterpillars, eggs and other insect stages.

[@postie10111]

@@danielenriquecallejo3564 I think you're confusing the idea of 'wildflower meadows' with 'wild areas'. A meadow is a managed space. The act of managing it, produces benefits for pollinators especially. No doubt there will be life-cycles that happen during that pollination season, caterpillars will become butterflies on those plants and the butterflies will eat the nectar from the flowers. However, it's a managed area. By September, a lot of the life has gone from the grasses and very few flowers are still in bloom. The seed has dropped and the hay needs to be cut. This has been the cycle for thousands of years, when iron age farmers cut hay for winter fodder for their animals. We now rarely cut hay for fodder but the cycle is the same. By cutting for fodder, we reduce the fertility in the soil, that allows the non-aggressive flowers to dominate the following year, providing habitat and food for butterflies, bees, moths. Wild areas are totally different. Hedgerows and fieldside edges are where life goes to during the harsh winter. Butterflies included.

[@martyn888]

@@postie10111 I completely agree with Daniel. In many cases, wildflower meadows DO NOT cater for the inhabitants of these habitats but just for the flowers. At least a third should be left uncut at the end of the season to provide shelter for overwintering invertebrates and to prevent so many being slaughtered. Indeed, they should also be surrounded by a generous margin of 'wild' and undisturbed habitat.

[@postie10111]

@@martyn888 that's entirely possible, of course. And I see and agree with what you're saying regarding life-cycles and year round invertebrates etc. However the point I was making is that a lot wildflower meadows have been in this cycle for thousands of years, cut and grow and cut. In the past, for thousands of years, I guess, a lot more wild areas would have existed for those other species to move into over winter. A lot will die out through the winter too, even in a flower meadow. Maybe a 1/3rd could be left over winter and cut back hard in the Spring, but unless the flowers and grass are removed, at some point, the soil will become too rich for some species of wildflower and it'll revert to scrubland or heath. The hay from wildflower meadows would have been a far too valuable resource to leave rotting in a field overwinter, certainly for the few thousand years before as late as the 1940's.

[@hakdov6496]

it's better for the wildlife to wait until spring to cut it back

[@Aj747]

Instead of cutting your plants in fall, leave them until the spring so birds and other animals can have food and spread the seeds.

[@deirdreoleary2854]

Beautiful video but I don’t like the emphasis on what it looks like aesthetically to humans. Our aesthetics need to be re-educated if what we like to see is not what’s best for the insects and wildlife and plants. Nettles are the larval foodplant for so many butterflies. Thistles feed hungry birds in winter. Docks too. Ragwort is the foodplant of the cinnabar moth. If you pull all these plants, you are wiping out the habitat for these insects. Let’s really make it about biodiversity and not just make it look good to humans who don’t yet know what wild plants are needed by their local wildlife.

[@calebvanderwolf1777]

Please, September is FAR to late for a cut, that is why you have problems with thug weeds, July is much better to cut and will give far greater biodiversity.

[@krisztinasooky1717]

Rc