England has lost nearly all of its wildflower meadows, due to industrial farming and chemicals. Popular for birds who love to feast on berries, meadows are also vital food for endangered dormice. We can help by keeping to paths on edges of fields and not dropping litter (esp. cigarette butts) nor releasing fire lanterns or balloons.
Most meadows peak in summer with the buzz of insects and fluttering wings of butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies. Maple, hazel, hawthorn and spinkle trees provide wildlife homes, and you’ll also find poppy field margins and bee orchid flowers (that look like bees) on open ground. Water meadows support skylarks and meadow pipits. Meadow brown butterflies are also it here.
You can plant a mini meadow with just 50 square feet and £10 by creating boggy spots and nesting areas for bees and butterflies. Or create a tiny wild meadow in the corner of a yard to calm the senses. Many wildflowers are toxic to animal friends, so learn more on how to make your garden safe for pets.
The Little Guide to Wildflowers is a handy pocket guide to identify 40 of the most beautiful flowers in the world, each one illustrated by printmaker Tom Frost to capture its characteristics, and information on plant family. Includes a spotter’s guide, to check off flowers you find.
Where the Wildflowers Grow is a botanical journey through Britain and Ireland by Leif Bersweden, who has always been fascinated by local plants, and often spent afternoons look for plants in his native area. He journeys over a year from the Cornish coast to the pine forests of Scotland to the streets of London, to find a landscape fast disappearing due to climate change and habitat destruction.
turn unused lawns into meadows
Lawns into Meadows is an updated version of a classic book, on how to replace deadscape land with low-maintenance and eco-friendly meadows. Obviously if you have a nice organic lawn for children and pets to enjoy, good. But if you have a boring patch of lawn that nobody really uses, why not turn it into a beautiful home for native pollinators? Learn how to grow your own wildflowers and native grasses, in a world where conventional lawns (with chemicals) have wreaked havoc on our natural ecosystems.
The book describes how to prepare your plot and design your meadow, then organically grow 21 plants (the book is American so ‘native’ choices may change). The book also includes tips on building support (where a tiny lawn is standard) and how to become a meadow activist (sounds exciting!) Includes a selection of before/after photographs. Author Owen Wormser was raised in rural Maine (USA) and is a landscape architect who runs a nonprofit that encourages grassroots generations of landscapes .