Meadowmat Wildflower Turf for Green Roofs

What Is Meadowmat Heritage Mix?

Imagine looking out of an upstairs window on to a colourful swathe of wildflowers swaying gently in the breeze. But it’s not in a neighbouring field – it’s on your garage roof. Heritage Meadowmat Wildflower Turf as a green roof.

Meadowmat Heritage Mix is an innovative landscaping product that makes it easy to establish plants on top of a sturdy flat roof. Ideal for new build projects where extra BREEAM credits are needed, Meadowmat Heritage Mix contains 23 species of wildflowers and grasses that are native to the UK. More importantly, each and every one of them is included in the RHS Perfect for Pollinators wildflower list – so you know that they’re going to be great at maintaining and enhancing biodiversity.

Plants are pre-grown onto a matting system so that when you buy Meadowmat Heritage Mix you actually receive a carpet of living plants. No need to wait for seeds to grow or spending hours on your knees to plant plug plants. All you need to do is unroll your Meadowmat on to your green roof buildup.*

*We recommend that Meadowmat Heritage Mix is installed onto a green roof build-up comprising waterproofing, a drainage layer and at least 100mm of green roof substrate (NOT topsoil). It will also need an edging to stop everything from falling off the roof. A green roof build-up of this nature will weigh in excess of 250Kg per square metre. Please ensure your building is strong enough to support the weight. Irrigation should be available. Please consult a green roof specialist before installing this product. Turf Online does not accept responsibility for a product which fails to establish or survive due to incorrect installation.

Using Meadowmat On Your Roof And In Your Garden

Meadowmat Heritage can be used in the garden to create a beautiful and relaxing wildflower area or it can be used on a roof with a pitch between 1 and 3 degrees. It’s super for use on a bike store and makes a great educational resource in schools and colleges.

The effect is absolutely stunning but remember that green roofing needs careful planning and the right build-up of components. It’s also quite heavy.

What Plants Are In The Meadowmat Heritage Mix?

Birdsfoot Trefoil
Bladder Campion
Cheddar Pink
Clustered Bellflower
Common Daisy
Common Poppy
Cornflower
Fox and Cubs
Harebell
Lady’s Bedstraw
Maiden Pink
Meadow Saxifrage
Ragged Robin
Sea Campion
Selfheal
Sheep’s Bit
Soapwort
Thrift (sea pink)
Viper’s Bugloss
Water Avens
Wild Thyme
Yarrow
Yellow Rattle

How To Care For Meadowmat Heritage Mix

As with all of our Meadowmat varieties, Meadowmat Heritage Mix is easy to care for once it has established.

In the first 2-4  weeks after installation, you should be checking your Meadowmat on a daily basis and watering it if necessary. It’s important that the plants have enough water to allow the roots to grow deep into their new growing medium.

On a roof, the combined effects of heat, wind and a relatively shallow growing medium, can dry plants out much quicker than on the ground so please be extra vigilant.

Once you are satisfied that your Meadowmat is well-rooted and happily established you can leave it to do its own thing between the months of March and September. During hot weather, check for signs of stress on a weekly basis and irrigate the plants if necessary.

What Are The Signs Of Stress In Wildflowers?

Wilting is an obvious sign of stress, the leaves and stems are floppy and sad and it’s clear that the plant is desperate for some TLC. Some plant species are more susceptible to wilting than others. Meadowmat for Roof meadows contains robust native species that are well adapted to drier conditions. They tend to have small leaves and strong stems and so are less likely to wilt than many herbaceous plants. Nevertheless, they are nowhere near drought-proof and unlike the sedum plants used to create Enviromat sedum matting, they will not survive significant periods of time without water. So stay vigilant!

At the end of summer, your wildflower roof will have flowered, set seed and be preparing itself for winter. It’s important that you go onto the roof at this stage and remove any weeds and unwanted vegetation, and make sure that drainage outlets are clear. If autumn leaves fall onto your roof, they must be removed or they will suffocate the plants that you want to keep.

What Summer Maintenance Care Does Meadowmat Need?

Meadowmat Heritage Mix contains fewer grasses than a ground-level wildflower meadow and so the annual “hay” cut associated with traditional management is more about neatness and managing the nutrient levels in the growing medium than it is about grass control and biodiversity.

You will need to cut down and remove spent vegetation from the roof at least once a year. We recommend that on a roof, Meadowmat Heritage Mix is trimmed in very early spring (March) so that insects can overwinter in the stems etc and seeds can drop back into the growing medium.

Where Meadowmat Heritage Mix is installed on the ground, you may prefer to trim it back in late autumn (October/November), once it has finished flowering, to encourage early growth next year.

Alternative Meadowmat Products Available

Meadowmat Heritage Mix is just one of a whole range of Meadowmats all grown on the same matting system but using different mixtures of plants.

You may also like:

Cottage Garden Meadowmat – a mix of native and non-native cottage garden favourites.

Traditional Meadowmat – native wildflowers and grasses reminiscent of the species-rich meadows of yesteryear

Woodland Shade Meadowmat – a selection of some of the UK’s more shade-tolerant wildflower species. Ideal for the dappled shade of an orchard

Meadowmat for Birds and Bees – nectar-rich and seed-producing wildflowers to feed pollinating insects and overwintering birds. Also contains caterpillar food plants to help our ailing butterfly populations.