News – 18 October 2023
When Chamomile Gardens, our over 55s scheme in Biggleswade, was being built last year, developers planted an area of wildflowers as part of our biodiversity work. Biodiversity is where plants, animals and bacteria interact in an area, supporting the ecosystems we need to provide the air we breathe and the food we eat.
These wildflower meadows have a natural and relaxed look, and offer several advantages:
- attracting bees and butterflies, which pollinate food crops
- supporting other wildlife such as birds and small mammals
- their soil structure can reduce the risk of flooding.
There have been plenty of flowers on show at Chamomile Gardens over the summer, in both the wildflower area and in formal planted beds. The wildflower area looks very different to usual bedding plants and shrubs, and currently has lots of seed heads ready to disperse seeds. Although at this time of year it doesn’t look as stunning as when in bloom, the wildflowers are doing important work creating seeds to germinate next season, enhancing the area further.
We have one other area in Bedfordshire that is undergoing a biodiversity trial, but it’s still early days. We’ll provide more details about that in a future newsletter.
In the meantime, where we’re planning new homes we consider the addition of wildflower areas in our landscaping options, with sites in Biggleswade, Wellingborough and Little Staughton being some of the first to benefit from this type of landscaping.