The recent proliferation of poppies at the corner of Belton Road has drawn some comment locally. Here’s how they came to be there.

This spring CAS, in cooperation with Bull Brand, have been working on improving the bare verge on the Bull Brand corner of Belton Road. The aim was partly to make it more attractive but also to encourage wild flowers which are important  for pollinator insects.

In late winter/early spring we sowed a wildflower seed mix. We knew that this area would be a challenge for any plants due to the poor soil quality and dryness so we chose a seed mix designed for a coastal situation, think cliff tops! We also planted a lavender hedge to the front of the plot. Lavender originates from the Mediterranean so revels in poor dry soil. We also planted three ornamental trees on the corner.

Little did we know then that the following spring would be of the driest on record! We had to water the trees and lavender every week. When we did the original planting we hauled the water up from the beck using rope and bucket but the water level in the beck had dropped so we had to bring the water in.

Now our work has started to pay off! In recent weeks there has been a wonderful display of poppies. Looking at the number of buds it seems that this will continue for some time. The lavender is also showing buds and should be flowering in a few weeks.

The dry weather will have delayed the germination of many of the flower seeds but they will soon start to show through, giving flowers to follow the poppies. We will also be sowing more seeds and planting home grown wildflower plugs on the slope in front of the lavender. This slope is problematic as it is prone to erosion, we hope the plants will help to stabilize it.

This has been a promising start to our efforts to brighten up this end of town and generally improve biodiversity. If you would like to be part of our activities in this area please contact us.