Rigby Taylor Helps Bring Nature Into Towns
Increasing numbers of county, borough and parish councils, as well as schools, are seeing high levels of improvements in the increased levels of visual impact and the biodiversity benefits being created by their use of Rigby Taylor’ s EuroFlor urban flower mixtures.
Importantly, too, local community budgets are also benefiting from the reduced cost of the urban flower seed mixes compared to bedding schemes. Indeed, not only is the seed and installation cost much cheaper, but in-season maintenance costs are also reduced.
As an example, Monmouthshire County Council has been winning plaudits from both the public and wildlife experts with outstanding results from using EuroFlor.
Upon entering the county visitors are greeted by welcome signs carrying a bee symbol to indicate the work the council is doing to encourage pollinating insects and to acknowledge the council’ s recently introduced Pollinator Policy. Tenor and Classic( perennial and annual) EuroFlor mixture were sown on Monmouth’ s roundabouts and roadsides, and attracted hundreds of letters of praise from the public.
Nigel Leaworthy, operations manager for landscape and grounds maintenance, says:“ The displays ticked so many boxes in relation to the Pollinator Policy, ie no plants grown in greenhouses, no travelling to the individual sites once planted to weed every two weeks, no watering, etc.
“ We identified strategic locations where the flower mixes would look best – roundabouts, housing estates, trunk roads and motorways – and determined that the EuroFlor mixes would eliminate 85 per cent of our annual bedding and provide savings in excess of £ 40,000 per annum.”
Other councils throughout the UK have had similar experiences.
EuroFlor mixtures provide:
• Choice of both annual and perennial mixtures
• Selected mixtures for both spring and autumn sowings
• Low installation and maintenance cost
• High visual impact & long flower displays
• Support for pollinating insects
• Ecological & species biodiversity
• Germination tested and packed in foil sachets.
Ecology seminar shows what wildflowers can do An ecology seminar at Great Barr Golf Club in Birmingham was attended by over 40 sports, amenity turf and landscape professionals who heard some excellent presentations on the ecological opportunities provided by wildflowers, how this can be managed as part of a sustainable landscape programme and what innovative solutions are available.
Also, Chris Stilgoe, head greenkeeper at the golf course, hosted an on-course site visit showing what can be achieved by sowing EuroFlor mixtures on the course. www. rigbytaylor. com
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