Naturalistic garden design in Saffron Walden: a maturing meadow
In October 2022, we installed this meadow as an addition to a well-established, existing garden design in Saffron Walden. The new meadow replaced a large, traditional lawn.
Midsummer has now passed and the colourful exuberance of the meadow is fading, but it’s still buzzing with insects.
Meadow-gardening for butterflies
Several ringlet butterflies flit around and settle for a while on the yarrow. These are one of the few butterflies that will fly in really overcast weather and may even be active during light showers.
Considering the very wet spring and summer we’ve had, it’s no surprise that the ringlet butterfly numbers are up. At rest, the underwings of this butterfly are unmistakable with clear pale brown rings (the male has very dark velvety brown almost black upper wings).
If you’re interested in the butterflies in your local area, find details at the bottom of this article on Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count 2024
Plants to grow in your meadow
In the Saffron Walden meadow, there is a delicate frothy texture just now – due to the tiny white flowers of hedge bedstraw Gallium mollugo.
Also present, but in fewer numbers, is golden lady’s bedstraw Gallium verum. Its name derives from the old custom of including it in straw mattresses especially in the beds of women about to give birth; it smells of honey.
Hedge bedstraw adding a frothy backdrop to Yarrow, Tufted Vetch and Ox Eye Daisies
A particular favourite of mine are the flowers of wild carrot Daucus carota, tinged with pink, they are so intricate and delicate in their detail, from the unfurling flowers through to their bird’s nest-like seedheads.
Wild carrot Daucus carota flower unfurling
Some cheerful corn marigolds can be seen nodding their golden yellow heads in the centre of the meadow. In the late nineteenth century, corn marigolds became briefly fashionable as a table decoration.
Matthew Arnold, the poet and critic, wrote to his sister in 1883:
‘I thought of you in passing through a cleared cornfield full of marigolds. I send you one of them. Nelly gathered a handful, and they are very effective in a vase in the drawing-room.’
Also in flower in early July is tufted vetch Vicia cracca – a scrambling plant, with curling tendrils and finely divided leaflets. It can climb up to seven feet over hedges and banks. Here it is clinging to yarrow.
I noticed a tiny bee on the yarrow Achillea millefolium, laden with pollen. Yarrow is a powerful herb used as far back as Anglo-Saxon times in divination rituals and as a charm against bad luck and illness, as well as for staunching wounds.
It is interesting to think of people using this plant for practical purposes here in Saffron Walden in times gone by, and the way it is used purposefully now in meadow gardens by garden designers – for colour and, importantly, for pollinators.
How does the Meadow flower its bloom unfold? Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold.
William Wordsworth
Count butterflies in your garden or a local outside space
The charity Butterfly Conservation is running a Big Butterfly Count this summer – a nationwide citizen science survey running from 12th July to Sunday 4th August.
Numbers of butterflies and moths in the UK have decreased significantly since the 1970s. Butterflies are key biodiversity indicators for scientists as they react very quicky to changes in their environment. Tracking numbers of butterflies is crucial in the flight to conserve our natural world.
Butterfly Conservation is asking people to spend just 15 minutes in your garden, local park, school ground, a local field or forest, preferably when the sun is out, recording whether you see any butterflies and if so which ones. The app can help you identify and record them.