What is a wildflower meadow?

I hope this section will encourage you to make a meadow in your garden if you don't already have one because they are so worthwhile, even a tiny area of a few square feet!  But first, what are we actually talking about? We all have a vague mental picture of what a wildflower meadow is, but how often do we actually walk through one? Not very often, sadly, because they are quite rare nowadays. Fortunately, some do still exist in one form or another. A simple definition would be an essentially grassy area that also contains many wildflowers. The foliage must not be too tall otherwise the flowers would, in time, be out-competed. The natural succession of plants in most lowland habitats leads to taller herbs and weeds, followed by low shrubs, and eventually woodland. Meadows only stay as meadows because of low soil fertility and animal grazing or mowing. Wildflower areas are nowadays most often found on downlands, wetland reserves, sandy heaths and coastal dunes, road and railway verges, and a few hay or cornfield meadows.

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Perennial Meadows

I will mostly discuss perennial wildflower meadows that mimic the hay meadow.  Hay meadows used to be very common, but have largely disappeared from the UK due to the rise of mechanised farming after the Second World War and the reduced need for hay for horses and cattle. Hay meadows are grassy fields of limited soil fertility that also contain a lot of colourful wildflower species. Grazing animals are removed during the spring to allow growth, then it is cut in July or August for hay. In former times this was baled and stored as a very important animal feed in winter. After cutting, animals are allowed back in to graze in late summer, autumn and winter. A wide diversity of perennial wildflower species that are tolerant of seasonal grazing can thrive and become established in this annual cycle, flowering year after year.

 

 

Cornfield Annuals

A somewhat different type of meadow can be made with cornfield annuals. These wildflowers adapted to living in fields of cereals are now rare on farms due to modern herbicides and fertilisers, but they can rapidly make a colourful display in the same year as sowing the seed. Prominent species in seed mixes include corn poppies (Papaver rhoeas), cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus), corn marigolds (Glebionis segetum), and corncockle (Agrostemma githago) with or without some cereals. However, being annuals, the plants die at the end of the season and can only return next year by re-seeding. Although it works on fairly fertile as well as infertile soil, it generally requires the soil to be ploughed or dug every year, and more seed mix to be sown. Otherwise perennial herbs gradually take over and the cornfield annuals decline and disappear within a year or two.

 

 

Mixed meadows

Currently there is a trend for making wildflower meadows that are neither just pure cornfield annuals nor pure perennial meadow flowers. All sorts of other annual, biennial, or perennial seeds can be incorporated into a kind of “freestyle” meadow. Examples could be Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena), Borage (Borago officinalis), Phacelia tanacetifolia, Red campion (Silene dioica) and of course many more. Whilst many are non-native plants and may need to be re-sown each year for best effect, they are undeniably very colourful and enjoyable. They may not be as good a habitat for our native creatures as native-type meadows are, but still very beneficial.

 

 

Why make a Meadow?

In recent years there has been a huge upsurge in interest in organic gardening, wild gardening, and “rewilding”. Having a wildflower meadow in the garden is now particularly popular and is a very good way of supporting biodiversity. Naturally rich in plant species, they also provide habitat for fauna such as ants, beetles, spiders, caterpillars, butterflies, moths, bees, hoverflies and many other insects. I always find small frogs sheltering in my meadows when cutting them down in late summer. Small mammals, birds and larger mammals are attracted in their turn. By making a wild area, you are making a valuable contribution to nature conservation in your locality. At the same time you are rewarded with a colourful area of tranquillity that has a quite different feel to conventional garden flower borders.

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If you don't already have a meadow, it is not complicated to create one. This can be done on a large scale, such as a farmer’s field, or a small scale as in a private garden. Either way the principles are the same. Most of us do not have much ground to spare, of course. The great thing is that even a very small area of a few square metres, a mini-meadow, can be very rewarding and absolutely worthwhile. All it needs is a bit of effort at the outset and some patience. Good progress can be achieved even by the end of the first year!

 

When and where to make a meadow

Spring is a good time to make a meadow, when plant growth is underway, but probably even better is early autumn. You can do the groundwork while the weather is not too hot, then sow the wildflower seed with time for it to start growing before winter. You can already see some results by the next summer. Choosing the exact location is the first step and it’s a critical one. In the right area meadow making is pretty easy. In the wrong place it can be a disappointing, uphill struggle. Most of it should be sunny for most of the day. Also the soil should be as low in fertility as possible, otherwise vigorous grasses and rank weeds such as nettles, thistles, and docks will dominate. They are good for wildlife in some ways, but not really what we are aiming for. Thus a flower border is best avoided. We want a rich diversity of wildflowers and this only occurs on poor soils where they are adapted to be able to survive and thrive. Also consider whether the area will be flooded in winter or baked dry in summer, as this may dictate what species of wildflowers will grow.

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The ideal place is a neglected section of lawn that has not been treated with fertilisers, moss killers or any other chemicals. Do NOT dig up and remove the turf. You may find a good diversity of small wildflowers growing in it already and it can be left uncut for a season to see what is there. It is effectively already half way to being a meadow; lawns and meadows are both grassy areas cut regularly, the only difference being meadows are not cut between early spring and mid summer. With luck there will be beneficial soil fungi present that may support hardy orchids. They should not be disturbed by digging. Some people are even lucky enough to find that orchids are already present. They simply had not been seen before because untimely mowing always cut off the emerging flower spikes. Autumn lady’s tresses, Pyramidal orchid, Bee orchid and Green-winged orchid are known to pop up this way sometimes.

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Preparation

If you have to use a scrubby, weedy patch or a border, thoroughly dig it out and remove the roots of existing plants as much as possible to stop them returning. The hard work done now will pay off later. Also consider taking away top soil to a depth of 6 inches or more to reduce fertility. It can be replaced by a soil or material of low fertility – eg sub-soil, horticultural sand, limestone or chalk rubble, alone or in combination. If you have to use an area of lush, fertilised, pampered lawn then dig and remove the ghastly turf, as above. Another approach is to simply dump a thick mound of rubble on top of a chosen site to a height of, say, a foot or more. This way no digging out needs to be done: the weeds underneath are smothered to death. A thin soil of composted bark or similar can be added on top of the rubble, or it can be left bare to be slowly colonised by wildflower seed. The preparation for sowing of a lawn area is to give it a hard raking to remove mossy thatch and create small bare patches so that seeds can grow. For bare ground, break up any big lumps of soil and rake the surface to a flat area with a fine tilth.

 

 

Seed Sowing

Buy a perennial meadow seed mix suitable for your soil type and pH. This could be for chalky, clay, loam or sandy soil and for acid, alkaline or neutral soil pH. Most mixes include wildflower and grass species with the ratio heavily towards the latter to give a natural balance. They are obtainable from reputable internet suppliers. Use about 4 to 5g seed per square metre. It is best to mix the seed thoroughly with several handfuls of damp horticultural sand. This is easy to broadcast thinly over the area and helps you to get an even coverage. Stamp the seed down lightly with your feet then water it in. This helps to stop the wind blowing it away and encourages it to start germinating. Perennial wildflowers tend not to flower until their second full season of growth so it is good to include maybe 25% cornfield annuals seed mix in the first sowing. This gives colourful flowers in the first summer while the perennials are getting established (see section on cornfield annuals).

 

 

Meadow management

At first there is no more to do than watch the seeds germinating and growing. After the initial foliage has risen above a few inches it can be good to mow it on a high setting once or twice in its first spring (but not if you have included cornfield annuals). This helps a greater range of young plant rosettes to establish. Meadows can look a little scruffy at some times of the year. To counteract this mow a well defined grass perimeter around the outside edge, and also one or two grassy paths through the middle if it is large enough.

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The meadow must be cut down in mid or late summer every year. This is the key job of maintenance that keeps it as a flower meadow. Cut it down short, to just an inch or less. I use a combination of strimmer, shears, and lawn mower, but you can also use a traditional hand scythe. Remove all the cuttings as this reduces soil fertility year on year. Before this, though, I leave the cuttings on the ground for a week to dry out and shed their remaining seeds. During autumn keep on mowing and removing the mowings every few weeks to keep the grass short. Continue until the cold weather causes growth to cease for winter.

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Re-seed with meadow mix after the major cut of late summer to encourage meadow development. Re-seeding is necessary for the first few years to keep improving the range of species, but after 3, 4, or 5 years it becomes fairly settled and re-seeding is then optional.

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An attractive and diverse wildflower meadow will emerge and evolve over time. Remove any isolated vigorous weeds that pop up. It is often helpful to add extra Yellow-rattle (Rhinanthus minor) seed to the mix. This is colourful in its own right but also reduces grass vigour by being parasitic on their roots. Note that Yellow-rattle does not germinate until it has been through a cold winter, so sow it in autumn. This vernalisation is needed by many wildflower species. The range of species can be increased by planting “plug” plants here and there. They can be home-grown from seed, or obtained from garden centres as plants. Distribute them as randomly as possible for a natural look. Examples would be Cowslips (Primula veris), Field scabious (Knautia arvensis), and Greater knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa), or spring bulbs such as Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) and the native Daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus). Hardy orchids may eventually appear naturally on the meadow, or can be introduced as plug plants – for more details see under the Hardy Orchid sections.

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My Surrey Mini-Meadow

The first mini-meadow I created was in the garden of our previous house, on the Surrey North Downs. It was a sunny oval of lawn, 8 by 5 metres, never treated with fertilisers or moss killers during our time there. The soil was of average seasonal moisture with pH 6.5 to 7, ie slightly acid. Two or three feet of clay-loam overlay the chalk bedrock, so unfortunately there was no resemblance to chalky downland, which would have been desirable. I converted it to meadow in a variety of ways: part was dug out to remove 30cm of topsoil and re-filled with chalk rubble, part was stripped only of the top 5cm of grassy turf, and part was left as lawn turf but raked harshly before seeding. The latter, least invasive approach seemed to give the best results, certainly for orchids. I used two Naturescape wildflower and grass seed mixes: clay soils meadow mix and chalky soils meadow mix.

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The area developed steadily over 12 years into a rich and colourful meadow. Within two or three years it was rewarding, and became more established and diverse with time. The range of species inevitably changed from year to year, as some are transient. I recorded 49 different species of wildflowers in that time, about 20 of which could be considered long term “residents”. Among these were: Birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), Bulbous buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus), Cat’s ear (Hypochaeris radicata), Wild carrot (Daucus carota), Yellow-rattle, Common knapweed (Centaurea nigra), Field scabious (Knautia arvensis), Red clover (Trifolium pratense), Fox-and-cubs (Pilosella aurantica), and Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris). A particular highlight came early each spring with a wide carpet of freely self-seeding Cowslips. I identified 7 grass species, particularly Sweet vernal-grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), Crested dog’s-tail (Cynosurus cristatus), and Common bent (Agrostis capillaris). There were probably several more, but I confess to not being able to identify them very well!

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I introduced various hardy orchids as plug plants, including Common spotted, Southern marsh, Green-winged, Bee, Twayblade, and Pyramidal. They each flowered well for a few years, despite some losses, and spread their seed around. Moreover, three species went on to become, self-seeding populations. By the time of moving house the numbers flowering were over 25 Common spotted, and a half dozen Twayblade and Pyramidal orchids.

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I noted 16 butterfly species visiting the meadow. Many would have visited the garden anyway, but I think the meadow helped significantly. There were plenty of the grass loving species: Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus), Meadow brown (Maniola jurtina), and Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus). I left a small area of long grass un-mown throughout the year and I believe this allowed butterfly broods to hatch out there. The most exciting was a visit over several days from the rather rare Small blue (Cupido minimus). It was probably lured in by the scent of Kidney vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) I planted in the meadow. As well as many small frogs discovered at mowing time, a 9 inch high ant hill of meadow ants developed.

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Unfortunately in 2018 we decided to move house to the South Coast. It was a pity to abandon the meadow just as it was doing so well, and I accept that it has probably now “reverted” to lawn. However at our new house a new meadow is well underway!

 

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My West Sussex Mini-Meadows

We moved in to our current house in July 2018 and I started a new perennial meadow in the garden that first summer. Currently it is only 4 years old, so is still in its infancy. It is an area of pre-existing lawn that is pear-shaped, about 7 metres long by 4 metres wide. It is level, mostly in full sun, and the soil is heavy clay with an acid pH of 6 to 6.5. It can be temporarily waterlogged by rain in winter, as the drainage is slow. Additionally I built two curving grassy banks, each 3 metres long by up to 1 metre high. These lie beside the meadow and are based on piles of old logs and brick rubble with an overlying layer of large limestone chips and chalk rubble. These are intended to become banks of free-draining, alkaline soil that will support a different wildflower range to the flat meadow.

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For the flat meadow the lawn has not been dug up at all but instead strenuously raked to remove thatch and create bare patches before wildflower seeding. I don’t know if the previous owner used any lawn treatments, but was encouraged to see a good species diversity already existed in the lawn, such as Thyme-leaved speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia) and Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris). Also I was excited to find a few small plants of Adder’s-tongue fern (Ophioglossum vulgatum) already present. They are regarded as good indicators of undisturbed, species rich grassland. I sowed wildflower and grass seed mixtures which were again from Narturescape: clay soils mix, chalky soils mix, and long season meadow mix

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Though it is still a new meadow I have already noted 39 plant species flowering. Cowslips and Fritillaries have been plug-planted and are increasing encouragingly. Plugs of Ragged robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) and Sheep’s bit  (Jasione Montana) started well but have now died out, whereas Betony (Stachys officinalis) persists. The dominant meadow species so far include Yellow-rattle, Oxeye daisy, Fox-and-cubs, Cat’s ear, Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris), Red clover, Wild carrot, and Common sorrel (Rumex acetosa). On the chalky banks flowers include Kidney vetch, Bird’s foot trefoil, Salad Burnet (Sanguisorba minor), Wild basil (Clinopodium vulgare), Mouse-ear hawkweed (Pilosella officinarum), Hop trefoil (Trifolium campestre), and Chalk milkwort (Polygala calcarea).

 

Orchid plug plants have included Common spotted, Pyramidal, Loose-flowered, and Green-winged orchids. No self-seeded plants have been seen yet, but this is expected as it is still very early days. Most hardy orchids take at least 3 years to flower from seed. In addition to the lawn meadow with chalky banks, a.k.a. the “Back Meadow”, there is also a somewhat larger “Front Meadow”. This is a long and wide grassy strip between the road and our front hedge, of uncertain ownership! Since the local authorities are sensibly not mowing it I have converted this to a meadow area as well!