Have you noticed that some grassy areas in the Kymin haven’t been mown so much in the last year or two? This is because together with Penarth Growing Community and the Vale of Glamorgan Council we are managing these areas as wildflower meadows. One is the ‘Top Meadow’ which is the open grassy area just above the top path next to the big hornbeam (the swing tree). The other is in the orchard, between the two old boules courts.
Why meadows? We’ve all seen the headlines about the strife insects are in. (You haven’t? Have a look at this talk by insect expert Dave Goulson.) Meadows are a really simple way we can help our insect friends out. They contain a combination of grasses and perennial wildflowers (that’s wildflowers that live on from year to year). The wildflowers are really rich in pollen and nectar, which are both essential foods for insects like bees and butterflies. Meadows also make great living spaces for insects – there are lots of nooks and crannies to shelter in and hide from predators. Of course, more insects means more other animals that eat them, like birds. And meadows are really great at storing carbon in the soil. And if that hasn’t convinced you, they’re really beautiful spaces that are calming to spend time in. What’s not to love?
How are we creating meadows? The main thing we’re doing is, well, doing less! All you really need to do to establish a meadow is to reduce how much you mow – let the grass grow through spring and summer, and cut late summer / early autumn. Then remove the clippings so that the nutrients don’t return to the soil – wildflowers don’t like too much food. That’s the basics. And this year we began cutting the meadow in Autumn with scythes - you can read here about our return to scything. There are some other things we’ll be doing too, like sowing some wildflower seeds and planting wildflower plug plants. But the main changes you’ll notice immediately is less mowing.
Remember that we do need to cut the grass in the autumn. If we don’t cut at all, then soon brambles will take over and eventually trees. We like brambles and trees too, but we think meadows are also valuable, and fit in well in these parts of the park.
When will we start seeing more flowers? At the moment, the meadow areas are mostly grass. As we continue to manage these spaces as meadow, we’ll see more and more wildflowers every year. Grasses are hungry plants, so as we keep taking away the nutrients every year, they’ll grow less vigorously, and the flowers will move in to fill the space. There are already lots of flowers growing in the meadows though, if you’ve been looking closely. We’ve been monitoring them this year. We’ve already found lots of different species of wildflowers growing.
Here are some examples:
Black medick / Maglys du Closely related to the clovers, it helps bring nitrogen into the soil.
Common bird’s-foot trefoil / Pys y ceirw There are plenty of these low-growing flowers thriving in the top meadow.
Common knapweed / Y bengaled One of the top scoring wildflowers for pollinator insects. See how this burnet moth is enjoying herself. We hope her offspring will visit again next year.
Creeping cinquefoil / Pumnalen ymlusgol Looks quite similar to buttercup, but if you speak a bit of French, you’ll know to look out for five leaves on the cinquefoil.
Dandelions / Dant y llew Do you see a weed, or do you see an insect-feeding powerhouse?
Meadow buttercup (Blodyn menyn) and Creeping buttercup (Blodyn menyn ymlusgol) The flowers look much the same but you can tell them apart by their leaves and height.
Germander speedwell / Llygad doli We love the Welsh name for this pretty flower: doll’s eye. It used to be considered a good luck charm for travellers, growing on at the side of the road, speeding you well.
Lady’s bedstraw / Briwydd felen This used to be stuffed into mattresses to sleep on. It can also be used to curdle milk to make cheese. And it might just attract the stunning hummingbird hawkmoth, whose caterpillars feed on Lady’s bedstraw.
Musk mallow / Hocysen fwsg A top-scoring food plant for pollinators. And beautiful to boot
Oxeye daisy / Llygad llo mawr One of the best wildflowers to feed pollinating insects. You’ll see oxeye daisy swaying in the breeze on many of our road verges.
Selfheal / Y feddyges las You guessed it, long used in traditional medicine. A low growing plant, blink and you’ll miss it, but very beautiful if you take the time to search it out.
White clover / Meillionen wen A firm favourite amongst the bees. Low-growing, if you leave off mowing your lawn for a couple of weeks in summer, it’ll readily flower. Why not leave a patch for the bees?
We’re excited to see what the meadows will look like next year!
Here are a couple of other interesting flowers we found nearby. These aren’t technically meadow plants, as they grow more readily in woodland or hedgerows:
Ivy broomrape / Gorfanhadlen eiddew Notice anything missing? That’s right, the colour green. This parasitic plant doesn’t produce its own chlorophyll so it can’t photosynthesise. It gets its sugars by tapping into the roots of ivy. Do you find that a bit spooky too? We spotted this plant growing around the margins of the top meadow under the trees.
Lesser Celandine / Llygad Ebrill This happy flower is one of the first to appear in early spring, and carpets much of the Kymin grasslands for a couple of months. In Welsh we call them April Eyes or Little Gold of Spring.
Primrose / Briallu You can find this bright flower growing in many areas of the Kymin, while there’s still enough light for it before the leaves on the trees unfurl in spring.
Stinking iris / Gellesgen ddrewllyd This less than showy iris isn’t so easy to spot, but your nose might hunt it out. Yes, it is a bit smelly, and is also called the roast beef plant. Unlike roast beef, it really isn’t good to eat and will make you ill if you do. This includes the striking red berries, so please leave them for the birds.
Violet / Fioled There are a few different species of Violet, and we haven’t yet worked out which we have growing in the Kymin. Can you help us find out? You’ll find them growing under deciduous trees before the leaves unfurl.
Seabank meadow on Beach Road. You might have noticed a patch of wildflowers growing opposite the Kymin by the side of the road down to the seafront. This is the Seabank meadow. This was created by laying special meadow turf in spring 2022. The turf was part of the pack that Penarth Growing Community successfully bid for from Keep Wales Tidy. In this meadow you will find wildflowers including Dandelions, Kidney vetch, Oxeye daisy, Queen Anne’s lace (aka Wild carrot), Ragged robin, Red campion, Red clover, Selfheal, White campion, White clover and Yarrow.
May 19th 2022 Less than two months after laying the turf, red campion starts to flower
30th May 2022 The intriguing flowers of kidney vetch
21st June 2022 The meadow is growing on happily
Interested in meadows? Why not try growing one in your own garden? Let the grass grow through summer, and cut late summer / early autumn after the seeds have set. Remember to remove the clippings. You might find different flowers growing in your meadow. Let us know what you found! And do share your thoughts and experiences with us. We’ll be glad to share our learning and learn from yours.
You can find more information on meadows here: https://meadows.plantlife.org.uk/
Information on which wildflowers make the most food for pollinators was found here: https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/which-wildflowers-provide-the-most-nectar-and-pollen-for-bees.html
