Simon Perry from Wild Roseland on wild flower areas
Welcome to another episode of the Roseland Podcast
I’m Chloe, your host.
In today’s episode:
- I’m chatting with Simon Perry from Wild Roseland about wild flower gardens and meadows
If this is the first episode you’re listening to you can find and listen to the podcast at Roselandpodcast.com, on iTunes/Apple Podcast, on Spotify and all other podcast apps just search for “Roseland Podcast”.
At Roselandpodcast.com you’ll also find links to any resources we mention.
Interview time!
Time to find out about Wild Roseland’s wild flower areas, and how you can create your own.
INTERVIEW
Simon sent us in a TON of resources if you want to find out more about what we were chatting about, you can find them all in the shownotes at roselandpodcast.com
That includes details of how to get hold of a new book “Flora of Cornwall” which Simon describes as
“an excellent comprehensive book with Great intros to habitats etc and then details of where all species have been recorded. All from information collected by amateur botanists across Cornwall.”
The book isn’t widely available - not from Amazon or Waterstones, so we’ve included a link to the flyer with details of how you can order direct from the author. Old school!
It’s quite a big file - so be patient as it loads - see the flyer
Wild Flowers and Pollinators
As well as links to Wild Roseland ( www.wildroseland.org) to get involved and offer help with volunteer work parties there are a number of useful links if people are thinking about wild flower patches in their own gardens and encouraging pollinators....
- An excellent project happening now on butterflies... good so see what is visiting your garden now is Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count, another of those citizen science surveys. Big butterfly count Also a phone app to do the recording.
- Plantlife's 'every flower counts' project included 'No mow May' and 'Let it bloom June'! www.plantlife.org.uk/everyflowercounts/
- Cornwall AONB (which of course covers the Roseland) has an excellent project called WhealBuzzy. There are more than 190 species of bee in Cornwall with 120 being solitary species. The Cornish AONB is of national significance for its bee fauna. Opportunities to get involved. New educational pack good for schools etc. www.cornwall-aonb.gov.uk/wheal-buzzy
- Eden Project is now home to the National Wildflower Centre. Worth a visit to Eden to see their wild flowers anyway. Although currently working on bigger projects (the original NWC was based in Liverpool where they helped with greening urban spaces across the NW.) I suspect they may have had some involvement with Cornwall Council Highways wildflower edges on the A30 in recent years. They sell small packs of local sourced seed but I think would also offer advice and help with harvesting local seed if you had a larger wild patch .www.edenproject.com/eden-story/our-ethos/national-wildflower-centre
- Grow Wild is project sponsored by the Botanic Gardens at Kew. www.growwilduk.com
- RHS I mentioned; they have very useful information on plants good for pollinators including a list of wild flowers worth sowing/ growing. www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=970 and Wild flowers for pollinators list
- Cornwall Council has developed a Pollinator Action Plan...good background reading on why we should be doing all of this. Cornwall pollinator action plan
Useful sources of seed, plug plants, wild flower bulbs etc (most also have really good info)
- Emorsgate native wild seed and wild grass seed genuinely from wildflower meadows and other wildflower populations around the UK...stocks grown on at farms in Norfolk and Somerset. https://wildseed.co.uk/
- Landlife wildflowers. https://www.wildflower.co.uk/
- Meadowmania, based in Wiltshire. www.meadowmania.co.uk
- Cornwall meadow mix (from a field in Fowey) britishwildflowermeadowseeds.co.uk I haven't yet found a really good source of local Cornish seed. It is important therefore to buy from reputable companies who have sourced UK seed and preferably from the south west
We’ve done a LOT of episodes with different groups on the Roseland, so if you’d like to find out more about them have a look through the full list of episodes on your podcast player, or at Roselandpodcast.com
Lindsey and I are always on the lookout for more people to interview, if you’d like to come on the show and talk about something interesting….
The first step is to drop us an email to roselandpodcast@gmail.com with your ideas and any questions you’ve got.
I hope this will help us all feel a little more connected to our wonderful community.
If you want to make sure you hear the rest of the shows then bookmark roselandpodcast.com, and look for us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your usual podcast app and subscribe.
Be kind and stay safe.
