Bees and butterflies wildflower seed pack

Product description

This is a colourful mix of perennial and annual wildflower seeds that has been chosen to grow in most soils as a permanent mini-meadow in your garden. The seed mix includes 20% native grasses that are beneficial to meadow butterflies. This mix produces high levels of nectar and pollen and is perfect for pollinators.

Growing instructions

Sow the seeds evenly over a sunny area of your garden that you have dug over, raked and weeded. This pack will cover an area of about three square metres so if your patch is smaller, decrease the sowing rate accordingly.

After sowing, lightly tread or roll the ground to ensure the seed is in good contact with the soil, and keep it watered until the plants are established.

Adrian Thomas, our resident wildlife gardening expert, says: “We’ve specially selected plants that are known to be good for bees and butterflies, whether as nectar plants for the adults such as greater knapweed or field scabious, or for butterfly caterpillars such as common sorrel for small copper, garlic mustard for orange-tip or bird’s-foot trefoil for common blue. Together with the wild grasses, this should create the effect of a very flowery meadow.”

The pack contains some annual cornflower seeds, such as common poppy and cornflower, that will flower in the first summer, so allow them to bloom and release their seeds back into the soil. Then mow or cut the area with shears in August or September and place the cuttings onto the compost heap or into your green bin.

In future years, the area can be mown in March, then left unmown through the summer, and cut again from late summer through to autumn, always removing the clippings. The amount of colourful annuals (poppies etc.) will naturally decrease over time. That’s natural.

Further information

• Plant outdoors between March and May or August and October.
• The plants will flower between May and September.
• All seeds grown in the UK.
• A mix of annual and perennial seeds.
• 80% wildflowers, 20% grasses.
• This 6g pack will cover approximately three square metres of ground.
• Plants will grow up to 1.2 metres tall.
• Fully recyclable paper packaging, printed with vegetable based inks.
• Seeds grown without any pesticides.

Contents (wildflowers): 20% cornflower, 13% corncockle, 5% yellow rattle, 5% vipers bugloss, 5% greater knapweed, 5% field scabious, 5% meadow buttercup, 5% bird's-foot trefoil, 4% common vetch, 4% tufted vetch, 4% garlic mustard, 2% marjoram, 2% devils-bit scabious, 4% poppy, 3% meadow cranesbill, 2% red campion, 2% hedge bedstraw, 2% wild carrot, 2% kidney vetch, 2% corn marigold, 1% nettle-leaved bellflower, 1% betony, 1% purple loosestrife, 1% common sorrel.

Contents (grass): 50% red fescue, 25% crested dogstail, 15% sweet vernal grass, 10% common bent.*
*Contents may vary.