About us
Wetland Wildflowers is a volunteer-run project hosted by WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. We grow locally sourced, native wildflowers from seed into hardy plug plants. The species we grow are characteristic of the area and recommended for projects which are looking to enhance or create species-rich floodplain meadows or other wet grassland communities.
Our plugs are sold in single or mixed species trays of 40 or 126 plugs. They are ideal for developers, estates, businesses, landscapers, farmers and other land managers looking to restore wildflowers to their wet grassland sites e.g. meadows, pastures, pond and ditch margins, river banks and woodland rides, and groups such as farmers and landowners could benefit from using our plants, particularly if managing species-rich grasslands in Countryside Stewardship and even more so if the new payments for managing species-rich floodplain meadows are introduced. Developers or councils looking to comply with Biodiversity Net Gain obligations could also use our plug plants.
Why are we doing this?
Floodplain meadows are beautiful, ancient places, rich in wildlife and rural history. They support rare and diverse plant communities, birds, bees and other pollinators, and can provide flood mitigation and carbon storage benefits. The Severn Vale was once a large, connected mosaic of floodplain meadows, marshes and small waterbodies. Recent decades have seen a marked decline in these priority habitats which we want to reverse.
Plug planting is an easy and efficient way of introducing wildflowers to enhance an existing site or support the creation of new meadows.
Why buy our plugs?
Plug planting is effective
- In ancient species-rich meadows, there’s a healthy balance of plants with different life strategies. Those which are ‘stress tolerators’ are the backbone of meadow diversity, but they are hard to restore as they are slow to establish and expand. Planting with seed often favours plants which are competitive or ruderal, so plug planting can be the ideal strategy to restore populations of stress tolerators and restore diverse meadow communities.
- Developers in England are required to deliver 10% Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) for housing, industrial and commercial developments. Restoring wet grasslands of very high distinctiveness and in good condition is a great way to meet your BNG obligations; however, to achieve this a project will need to establish populations of indicator plant species. Plug planting can restore many of these species more quickly and effectively than seeding, helping to boost your chances of success.
- Under Environmental Land Management (ELM), capital items are often available to fund the upfront costs of habitat restoration and can be used to purchase plug plants.
Champion native species
We champion native plants and (ideally) those of local provenance in grassland restorations because:
- Studies have shown that plants which are locally and/or ecologically adapted perform better than those from non-native stock.
- Agricultural varieties of native species, which are often supplied in commercial mixes, are genetically distinct from native wildflowers and may differ in terms of phenology, growth form and ecological requirements. Wildlife, such as pollinators, which have co-evolved with native plants may struggle to adapt.
- We want to celebrate the wildflowers which make the Severn Vale meadows special. Some of these can be hard to find from large national suppliers.
Support wetland recovery
All profits generated by the project will contribute towards WWT’s mission to restore wetlands across the UK and internationally. Each year, we provide a proportion of our wildflower plugs free of charge to community groups in the Severn Vale who are creating or restoring wet grassland habitats.
If you are interested in our free plants please see our community group section on the order page.
With thanks to the Moto Foundation, Eversheds Sutherland and the supporters of the Blue Recovery Fund for their generous donations.
