What is a wildflower meadow?

Strictly speaking, wildflower meadows are cut for hay in July (when all the seeds drop) and grazed by sheep or cattle in autumn. The animals’ hooves trample the seeds into the soil as they search for tasty new shoots of grass. Of course, not everyone has a field or a flock of sheep. But understanding how these natural habitats are created is useful.

Meadows are crucial for native plants, supporting butterflies, bees and other pollinating insects, birds such as meadow pipits, skylarks and yellowhammers, as well as small mammals like mice, vole and bats. Ecologists blame the decline of most of these species-rich habitats on intensive farming practices and building development. Here's the good news. With an estimated 23 million gardens in the UK, how lawns are tended can help redress the balance.

How to create a mini meadow

Wildflower meadows can be any size – a small patch of ground or part of a border. Even pots or planters can be planted with an insect-friendly mix of grasses and wildflowers. But if you have the space, a wildflower meadow can look spectacular.

• Pick a poor patch of ground that hasn't been cultivated recently. Wildflowers are very hardy. “There’s no point in sowing a damp fertile area with plants that you might expect to find on a chalk downland, as they won’t survive the battle against grasses,” writes garden designer Caroline Donald in The Times. 
• If starting with a new bed, you can reduce the fertility of the soil by removing topsoil, leaving poor subsoil or by adding horticultural or sharp sand to it.  A mix of 50/50 sand and soil is ideal at 50-100mm deep, say garden designers Urqhart & Hunt. Alternatively, choose plants that thrive in fertile conditions, such as clovers lady’s smock, meadowsweet, black knapweed and tufted vetch.
• As with any planting, check whether a site is sunny, coastal, shaded, damp or dry and the soil’s pH(alkaline, acid or neutral) before you choose which seeds to sow. It’s worth getting a soil test from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Most suppliers provide a range of seed mixes suited to different conditions and soil types.
• If you’re sowing wildflower seeds on an existing lawn, the grass must be hard cut. Remove clippings when you mow to reduce fertility. The next stage is to rake the grass vigorously. Use a sharp rake so that bare soil is visible. Sowing seeds directly into a lawn is likely to fail. Even if the seedlings germinate, they will have to compete with dense turf, so are unlikely to survive.
• Choose your seed mix carefully. You can buy standard wildflower meadow seed mixes in most garden centres and online. Gardening expert, author and broadcaster Monty Donn recommends choosing meadow wildflowers, such as cowslip and bird’s foot trefoil, for lawns rather than a cornfield mix. In an episode of BBC Gardeners’ World, he said: “Poppies and cornflowers belong to arable fields and will not grow in grass, so make sure to get meadow wildflower seeds and not cornfield wildflowers.” Some wildflower seeds contain a mix of annuals and perennials. You can also buy wildflower seed to attract butterflies or bees. All seed should be sourced in the UK, ideally as local as possible.
• Don’t be tempted to add manure or fertiliser as this will also encourage vigorous grasses to grow, which then choke the wildflowers.
• Ensure the seed is scattered evenly. Mixing the seed with sand bulks it out and makes it easier to see which areas you’ve already covered. Wildflower seed suppliers are experts in what density to sow, so follow the pack instructions.  
• Add yellow rattle, a semi-parasitic plant that feeds on the roots of grasses, to the seed mix. This perennial is known as the “meadow maker” and “nature’s lawnmower” as it helps establish other wildflowers at the expense of grass. It’s useful if you’re trying to introduce wildflowers to an established lawn, though it can take time to establish.
• Don’t cover the seed once down. Just roll or lightly tread in – mimicking the hooves of grazing animals. If it doesn’t rain, water small areas of wildflower seeds until the roots are established.
• Sow in early autumn, giving the seed time to settle in over winter. If you are on heavy clay, it’s better to wait until spring, so the seeds don’t rot over winter.
• While it may seem counter-intuitive to weed a wildflower meadow, its important to keep a balanced mix of species, advises the RHS. Otherwise, if the soil is fertile, very successful self-seeders, such as thistles and teasels, can form large colonies. Pull up or dig out any plants that are too numerous or unwanted.
• Wildflower meadows need mowing, though not as frequently as lawns. A main summer or ‘hay cut’ in July or August will have allowed the flowers time to seed and if there are any bulbs in the meadow for the foliage to die back. Introducing spring bulbs into a lawn area can help establish wildflower meadows as it forces a later cut. The RHS advises mowing a new perennial or mixed meadow several times in the first year to encourage the wildflowers and grasses to make strong root growth. Remember to remove clippings to reduce soil fertility.

What type of wildflower meadow?

There are two main types of wildflower meadow – annual that flower just once and perennials that come back year after year. The annuals usually flower very quickly, so give speedy results. After flowering, they scatter their seed and die. New plants will grow from the fallen seed, but extra sowings may be needed for a colourful display. Annual meadows are typically a mix of cornfield seeds, such as cornflowers, field poppies and field marigolds.

Perennial meadows take longer to establish – perhaps two years to flower from seed but then continue for years. They may have been sown with wildflower seed or simply lawns left unmown in summer so their existing plants can flower. They typically include species, such as ox-eye daisy, field scabious, knapweed and campion.

If you are starting from scratch, you can buy wildflower turf to create an instant meadow. Another option is young plants  – either seedlings or cuttings that you can plug into your lawn. This is also more expensive than sowing seed, especially for a large area, but will give plants that are slow to establish, such as harebells and meadows cranesbill, a head start.

Try no Mow May

If you would like to create a temporary meadow, simply mow less and later, advises the conservation charity Plantlife. Leave part of your lawn uncut or all of it and mow paths through it if you like. The charity’s No Mow May campaign has grown in popularity.  The ideas is to let plants already in your lawn flower, adding colour and providing an early food source for pollinating insects and other wildlife.  You can start mowing again in June or wait until July and carry out the main summer cut. The most common plants in lawns are daisies, creeping buttercups, yellow rattle, common bird’s foot trefoil and field forget-me-knots, says Plantlife.

“One of the beauties of wildflower meadows is there is not much to do and there is so much to enjoy. Aside from the pleasure and beauty of wildflowers, you get wonderful butterflies to watch, interesting insects and even the birds will benefit,” said Monty Don onBBC Gardeners’ World.