A wildflower garden planted in early March has introduced bees, butterflies, and bottoms on benches at St Michael and All Angels churchyard, as Jake Olver, PCC treasurer for Badminton, explains:
“The wildflower garden at St Michael and All Angels has become a magnet for bees, especially bumblebees this year, as well as butterflies and people.
“Since it was planted, our churchyard looks more colourful and maintained. It has reduced the amount of churchyard space which needs mowing, so our contractor can now spend more of his time strimming around grassy graves.
“The garden complements our small but interesting church, and with the churchyard open at all times, it has become a peaceful retreat for many. The human pleasure, hearing the insect-generated soundscape at eye level, is facilitated by two restored benches that now face the plot.
“The people who most enjoy the new garden are those who visit graves, but many new visitors have also come into the churchyard as a result, and many walkers and cyclists drop-in now.”
Consider creating a wildflower garden for your churchyard in celebration of Creationtide this month. You could also use your WFG to take part in our #EcoChurchInAnHour campaign: visit Eco Church in an hour.
Need some help or inspiration on getting started with a wildflower garden in your churchyard? Read Jake’s overview of the steps that St Michael’s took to kickstart their churchyard wildflower garden:
“A group of parishioners obtained permission from our PCC to dig churchyard ground for a wild flower garden. We identified an area of grass that was around 100 square metres, and we repeatedly dug up the ground within this area to remove existing grass and weeds.
“The generosity of a neighbour to the churchyard allowed the planting of the garden. She kindly paid for and planted the seed, which involved rolling and watering the soil and using a generous seed density, which took some heeling-in. This year the spring was rainy early on, so we waited until the end of March to plant.
“Everything we read about WFG’s indicated that the first year would be disappointing, but the germination was spectacular. The sequence of weather that followed allowed sufficient growth, in dense clumps, to withstand quite some wind.
“The parishioners are now thinking about future husbandry to sustain this good start. Our plan is to let the flowers pass their peak and start dying back.
“We will then run a scissor mower underneath the matted mass, let the stems, stalks and seed heads dry then scarify to shake out the last seeds and remove the dry matter. At this point we will hand weed any grass we see and hope for an early, warm spring to sustain this good start.”
Your church might be eligible for a wildlife garden grant. To find out more about how to apply for one of these #grantsforgardens, visit our Grants for Gardens web page.
Habi maps
The Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust (GWT) is offering Habimaps to churches, which map out the wildlife that is present in churchyards. The Habimap surveys are conducted by trained community volunteers, and they are free, minimally invasive, and provide accurate and up-to-date habitat data.
Click here to find all the details of the HabiMap programme at GWT and to apply /give permission for a survey.
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