The King’s vision for wildﬂower meadows

from Landscape & Amenity Product Update July 2023

STIHL enhances battery

Ten years ago, the former Prince of Wales launched Coronation Meadows to honour the 60th year of the late Queen’s accession to the throne. In the face of the catastrophic loss of 97% of our wildflower meadows since the 1930s, the plan was to create new and restored meadows using donor seed from remaining fragments of ancient and traditional meadows.

The Wildlife Trusts and Plantlife – charities for whom the former Prince of Wales was patron –worked together to identify 60 species-rich meadows which are known as Coronation Meadows, one for every year of the Queen’s reign at that time. These special places became donors to provide precious seed to increase the amount of valuable and beautiful wildﬂower habitat elsewhere.

The charities have done an audit of the success of the project which reveals that a fantastic 101 new wildﬂower meadows have been created or restored since the Coronation Meadows project began a decade ago.

The charities are delighted that the Coronation Meadows project has increased the number of wildflower meadows and benefited a vast array of wildlife, from bees and butterflies to bats and birds. The area is still expanding as the charities continue to harvest and spread the wildflower seed in localities close to the original sites so that the distinctive character of each area’s flora is preserved.

Biffa Award, through the Landfill Communities Fund, contributed £1million to fund the equipment and training needed for meadow restorations.

Wildlife Trusts Enquiry 2

With summer now in full swing and the good weather encouraging people to get out more it was timely that Fields In Trust and The Land Trust both released new reports on the future of our parks and green spaces. Both highlighted the importance of placing sufficient value on the parks and spaces we all continue to enjoy and the significant role they continue to play in society.

They both make interesting reading and gathered support from across the industry. It is hoped the audience also included decision-makers at both local and national government level.

As the wider industry continues to meet up at events ranging from Plantworx to Glee and as SAGE gets ready to welcome visitors as both GroundFest and SALTEX open registration for their events, it has also been interesting to see how well-attended the smaller regional and dealer-led exhibitions and demonstrations have been in recent weeks.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that visitors were not just taking advantage of the good weather for a day out, but were making serious enquiries about machinery, products and services.

There is also plenty to see with a large number of companies so far choosing 2023 as a launch year for a wide variety of products.

This month we highlight some of these new products in our main magazine and our regular Professional Groundscare supplement. As well as spotlights on weed and pest control and topdressers and spreaders, there is also a detailed look at sports turf maintenance and line marking. Elsewhere we look at developments within the hard and soft landscaping sectors and reﬂect on the latest news and views from the industry. The busy season ahead promises to highlight once again the world class qualities of the industry and hopefully the team will continue to see you out and about at various events.