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Olympic Stadium wildflower meadows
Olympic Stadium wildflower meadows sown to flower gold this summer
More than 10 hectares of annual and perennial meadows have been created in the Olympic Park, designed and sown to flower during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The annual meadows around the Olympic Stadium are a vivid combination of tickseed, cornflower, corn marigold, star of the veldt from South Africa, Californian poppy and plains coreopsis, which moves from yellow and blue in July to gold in August. The meadows, which are sown on an annual basis, have been trialled during the last two years to perfect the extensively researched technique of irrigation, late sowing and cutting back that will ensure the flowers peak for the Opening Ceremony.
A combination of shorter and taller perennial meadows, which require only a single seeding, were sown two years ago across the Olympic Park to allow plenty of time for them to establish before the Games. The meadows have been designed to be nectar- and pollen-rich, diverse, and with a long flowering season to encourage a range of bees, butterflies, birds, moths and other insects. Specific plants and flower species have been selected to encourage particular wildlife – for example, Burnet Moths congregate around knapweed flowers and many species of butterflies will take nectar from this plant.
The meadows have been sown in specially designed low-nutrient soil, with a high sand content, to ensure a diverse mix of flowers and to discourage weeds. After the Games the meadows will gradually incorporate a range of grasses, naturally and through oversowing, so they become self-sustaining and support particular butterfly larvae such as Meadow Brown.
The shorter meadows on drier sunny slopes are a colourful mix of thyme, calamint, origanum, viper’s bugloss and wild carrot. The taller meadows on shadier slopes include musk mallow, meadow cranesbill, devil’s bit scabious, red clover, bloody cranesbill and great burnet.
Meadow Brown by Beryl Johnson
Editorial copy date
Contributions for the Autumn edition of our newsletter are very welcome and should be sent to the Editor, Peter Maddison, no later than Saturday 22nd September, 2012. Any piece of writing considered to be of interest will be published and we also welcome line drawings, prints and photographs. Contributions (preferably electronic) can be sent to the address on page 24 or by email to: prmaddison@yahoo.co.uk
