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https://www.positive.news/society/hand-selected-seeds-are-set-to-bring-riot-of-colour-and-life-to-new-road/>
"The Eden Project National Wildflower Centre (NWC) and volunteers who are known
as the Wildflower Warriors – have been collecting seed by hand in a bid to
bring colour and life to a major new link road being built in Cornwall.
The NWC is part of the Eden Project and has been coordinating the huge task of
gathering, cleaning, sowing, growing and harvesting sufficient wildflower seed
to plant the route of nearly four miles.
Construction of the link road between the A30 and St Austell is in the final
phase. Seed sowing along approximately 45 acres of banks and verges began this
autumn and will create a corridor of what organisers say is “vitally important”
wildflower, woodland and heathland habitats. There will be new routes for
cycling, walking and horse-riding on five and a half miles of newly built
paths.
The NWC, in partnership with civil engineering consultancy, Griffiths and
Cornwall council, has been working for five years on the landscaping strategy,
which they see as a potential model for similar developments around the UK.
Seed that had been gathered in Cornwall was not readily available from
mainstream suppliers, so the NWC and its Wildflower Warriors have been working
hard to collect them and grow them on.
To do this, they built a network of seed donors made up of local farmers,
agricultural contractors and environmental and community groups. Local ecology
consultancy, Code 7 Consulting Ltd, supplied local provenance heather seed and
algae propagules for the heathland creation.
To try to increase biodiversity, the NWC is sowing a mix of annual and
perennial wildflower seed, meaning – all being well – that the habitats will be
blooming for years to come."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
