Climate

How we encourage wildflowers on land that is the responsibility of Whitehill Town Council.

Whitehill Town Council has two Orchard meadows one in Jubilee Park known as Nut Tree Meadow, this was established a couple of years ago with the surface scraped and a wild seed mix introduced of annual and perennial grasses and flowers.  A variety of fruit trees and nut trees where then planted within the meadow.  The meadow is cut annually and the plants left to dry in order to drop their seeds and then raked to remove in order to ensure the soil does not become too high in in nutrients. While the trees were establishing they were watered during dry periods.

The Second Orchard is on an area of land adjacent to the Bordon Inclosure car park. The ground was already rich in wild flowers, so currently there has been no wild flower seeds planted. The Orchard has a variety of apple and plum trees. Again the meadow is cut annually and treated the same as Nut Tree Meadow and while being established was watered during dry periods.

Whitehill Town Council are responsible for the Roundabout at the junction at the end of Conde Way.  This year we removed all vegetation and topped the soil up before seeding it with a wildflower mix that is specific for roundabouts and road verges.  It is a mixture of perennial and annual flowers and grasses. Cut annually and maintained to ensure the advertising signs are not obscured and there are no visibility issues for cars. Watering is an issue for the roundabout and is only done during drought conditions and first thing in the morning.

Jubilee Park there has been two years of planting native bulbs and corms in Jubilee Park

Laundry Pitch/Knaves Mire is the former football pitch site that is inhabited by moles and rabbits.  It has a ditch and bank in one corner to deter people walking onto the Heathland by a route that is not the public right of way.  The field is currently being left to re-wild and has not been cut over the summer months with the intention of cutting walkways through the newly forming meadow in directions we would prefer people to walk. If this is a continued the way forward scraping and seeding with a suitable wildflower mix would encourage this process.

St Lucia Open Space this open space in front of St Lucia House has the appearance of a piece of parkland. There is a bank at the northerly end that gets covered in Hawkbit/Hawkweed with yellow dandelion like flowers. We have chosen in the past to leave the bank uncut for the first few cuts of the season to allow the flowers to flower and seed.  Even on occasions leaving islands of uncut areas so flowers can proliferate.

How To Create Your Own Wildflower Meadow

More information on how to create your own wildflower meadow and attract pollinators to your garden is available here

If you live in premises adjoining the highway, you can apply for a license from Hampshire County Council to plant and maintain shrubs, plants or grass at that location.  Community groups or charities are encouraged to ask the Town Council to submit the application on their behalf.   More information is available here