Meadowmat Birds and Bees
We’ve put together a mix of 41 native British wildflowers and 4 grasses that will encourage a wide variety of wildlife into your garden.
Besides being a joy to share your space with, Birds and Bees Meadowmat® has many features to actively support biodiversity.
- A long flowering period. Which means that it supplies pollen and nectar for bees, butterflies, hoverflies and moths all through the Spring and Summer months and well into Autumn too.
- Source of food for caterpillars and therefore a vital part of butterfly and moth life cycles.
- Autumn seed heads and a ready supply of insects and larvae for birds.
- For the human visitors to your garden, there are colourful flowers, gently billowing grasses and the fascination of watching wild creatures going about their everyday life.
What’s not to like?
Meadowmat Birds & Bees – Key Points
- Birds and Bees contains mostly perennial plant species. Install it once and the plants will grow back year after year (provided the conditions are right).
- Not all of the flowering species are perennial. We’ve included some annual and bi-annuals too. These may not appear every year.
- Flowering Time: March– September (depending on local weather conditions).
- Birds and Bees will not be in flower when it is delivered to you. We trim the plants before despatch to protect them from damage in transit.
- Birds and Bees can be installed at any time of year. However, to be certain of seeing flowers in its first summer, we recommend installing it before the end of March.
- It takes two slabs of Birds and Bees wildflower turf to cover 1 square metre of prepared soil and it can be quite heavy. We recommend having two people to install it.
- Your Meadowmat® will change appearance from year to year because the balance of plant species is affected by weather, soil type and management.
What is Birds and Bees Meadowmat®?
Meadowmat®, it’s an ingenious outdoor landscaping material that helps you to grow a mature wildflower meadow in the least time possible. It’s far more reliable than sowing seed and quicker and easier than plug planting. Think of Meadowmat® as a slab of wildflowers for your garden. Lay Meadowmat® in a similar way to lawn turf, but maintain it like a wildflower meadow.
So, it’s easy to look after Birds and Bees. Once it has established it can be left to grow unchecked all through Spring, Summer and Autumn. So, there’s no need for mowing, feeding, deadheading or pest control. Mother Nature will take care of everything for you. Towards the end of Winter, (usually late February) or when all of the seed-heads have been eaten by birds, cut your Birds and Bees back to a height of 10cm. Then, be sure to shake any seeds on the area before taking away all of the clippings. Sometimes, during a wet mild Summer, you may find that some of the plants fall over – if this happens, simply trim them back to tidy them.
For more detailed information on installing and maintaining Birds and Bees please visit our Help Centre.
Growing Meadowmat Birds and Bees – Soil and Aspect
Birds and Bees prefers to grow in full sun and moist, but well drained low fertility soil. It is happy on level surfaces or slopes. Happiest in a fairly neutral pH but will tolerate all but the most acidic or alkaline soils.
For best results, install your Birds and Bees onto our Low Fertility Soil. Ordinary garden soil is usually high in the plant nutrients that grasses love. It is quite likely that after a few months the grasses will become so strong that they outcompete many of the flowering plants. The result will be a beautifully grassy meadow but with less colour than you perhaps hoped for.
Coverage
Each slab of Birds and Bees measures 500mm (19.6″) wide by 1000mm (39.2″) long so it will take two slabs to cover 1m².
Please note this product is sold per square metre.
Want to grow your own from Seed?
The mix of wildflowers found in Birds and Bees Meadowmat Wildflower Turf is also available as a seed mix – if you would like to grow your own from scratch or you just want to add some extra colour.
What’s In Meadowmat Birds and Bees?
Please note, percentages refer to the weight of the seed in the growing mix and do not necessarily reflect the proportions of mature plants.
10% native grasses
Native grasses look great alongside wildflowers. Not only that, they provide dense soil coverage to preserve water in the soil. Grasses also provide shelter for insects, food for birds and perches for butterflies:
Our Meadowmat Birds & Bees contains the following native grasses:
| Sheep’s Fescue | Quaking grass |
| Meadow Barley | Slender Creeping Red Fescue |
90% native wildflowers
For a colourful display that provides lots of pollen and nectar to support beneficial insects all the way from early spring to late autumn.
For more information about each flower, or to purchase more of the individual species, click on the links below:
Perishable living products should be installed on the day of delivery. In the unlikely event that your product does not arrive in good condition please get in touch immediately with photos showing the issue.
The actual percentage of each species contained may vary due to environmental factors. Turfonline makes every effort to ensure wildflower products are free from weeds and pests, however due to the natural way in which these products are grown we cannot guarantee they are 100% pest free on delivery. It is unlikely that you will see every species that is listed. The variation of species present has been developed to suit a wide variety of soils and environmental conditions. This will result in a product that will adapt to individual settings which may mean some species are more successful than others. Contains annual and perennial species. If installed after March many species may not flower during the first year.
