Top Tips for Creating a Wildflower Meadow

Meadows that bloom are really fantastic sources of food for pollinators,
probably the most cost-effective way that you can help.
That’s the beauty of reducing mowing – we can move really easily from an area of shortly mown grass into a naturally regenerated meadow really easily – you just need to be patient, you need to manage it properly and you need to let those flowers grow again.
There are two types of meadows you can create:
Meadow Type 1: SHORT-flowering Meadow - where you just reduce your mowing, so you’re mowing every 4 or 6 weeks, instead of really regularly, and that allows flowers like Clover and Dandelion to grow and provide food for pollinators.

Meadow Type 2: LONG-flowering Meadow, when you just cut once a year, in September and you remove the cut away again.

With long-flowering meadows, there are three things you have to remember in terms of management:
1: Always remove grass cuttings to reduce soil fertility
2: Remove fast-growing/noxious plants
3: Please be patient!
4. Choose the correct location
5. Cut paths through meadows
6. Put up signage
7. Plan your annual cut and removal of cuttings
8. Again try to be patient, it will be worth it!

Production of this video has been funded by Kildare County Council, Kilkenny County Council, Wicklow County Council and the Department of Housing, Local Government through the National Biodiversity Action Plan Fund. Many thanks to Bridget Loughlin, Heritage Officer, Kildare County Council; Dearbhala Ledwidge, Heritage Officer, Kilkenny County Council; and Deirdre Burns, Heritage Officer, Wicklow County Council, for supporting this project.

& Juanita Browne, National Biodiversity Data Centre

[DRJMF]

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.

[Stu_Pedazzo]

This video is like a relaxing head massage.

[tommybreen]

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

[EdurtreG]

Best video on this topic and I watched heaps. Thank you.

[mrstacyj]

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!

[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

[peterstevens]

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

[postie]

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. :)

[stephaniemetzner]

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

[cheffrey]

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

[hemanteegriffin]

Love it relaxing and soothing to watch and enjoy

[davidsmullen]

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.

[geoffdorrington]

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.

[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!

[danno]

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

[janjander]

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

[MNature]

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.

[ellydavis]

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.

[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!

[angobansoar]

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.