The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan does not recommend that you sow wildflower seed.
Instead we recommend that you reduce your mowing.
This is for a few reasons:
- You will achieve a higher biodiversity value by reducing your mowing.
- You will often be surprised at what is waiting to flower when given the right conditions.
- Sowing wildflower seed is often very expensive, especially in large areas and there is no guarantee that the wildflower seed will flower due to local conditions.
- Most wildflower seed is imported and not native.
We have various blogs relating to why we do not recommend sowing wildflower seed:
Why I don’t plant wildflower seed – Dr. Úna FitzPatrick
Spreading seeds of doubt – fake ‘wildflower’ mixes – Dr. Noeleen Smyth
Why ‘wildflower seed’ is a prickly issue – Prof. Yvonne Buckley
Don’t mow, let it grow – and amazing things will happen! – Dr. Úna FitzPatrick
Why we don’t recommend wildflower seed mixes
To find out more, see our videos on creating natural meadows through reduced mowing: