National Wildflower Centre

Over 10,000 plug plants of devil’s-bit scabious, were grown to help boost the population of the threatened marsh fritillary butterfly, which relies on the plant to feed its larva. The plants were planted along the A30 road to create a corridor between known marsh fritillary populations in north and southwest Cornwall. Additional plants were grown for marsh fritillary egg translocation on the Lizard Peninsula to boost the butterfly populations there. 

The National Wildflower Centre is working with Cornwall Council and Griffiths Civil Engineering and Construction to ensure the new St Austell A30 Link Road (The Garden Route)  becomes the greenest possible gateway to the Eden Project and St Austell town by creating over 18 hectares of new wildflower, woodland, and heathland habitat. The NWC is creating a series of wildflower mixes to line the new St Austell Link Road, a 4-mile single carriageway that will connect the old A30 near Victoria to the north and the A391 at Stenalees roundabout to the south. 

Working with St Austell bay Economic Forum the NWC team have also planted wildflowers on the St Austell A391, as part of a wider regeneration project aiming to make St Austell Bay a beautiful and healthy place to be.  

Liverpool, the original home of the National Wildflower Centre, saw the first seeds sown of the Liverpool Wildflower Gateways Project in 2019. Funded by Liverpool City Council, the project is creating a network of wildflower displays that radiate out along the main routes into the city. 

In 2021 the NWC sowed wildflowers in 17 of the 30 Liverpool City Wards including Toxteth, Sefton, Princess Park and Anfield.  

The National Wildflower Centre supported the Wheal Buzzy project by growing almost 5,000 wildflower plug plants from seed collected locally to increase pollen and nectar resources for pollinating insects, specifically mining bees.

The NWC worked with Porthcurno Telegraph museum to create a wildflower display in the gardens surrounding the Museum to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first cable from Porthcurno. The mix the NWC created includes both annual and perennial wildflowers that naturally occur both in Cornwall and Malta, to highlight the route of the cable. 

In November 2019, the National Wildflower Centre worked with Anfield All Saints School, Liverpool, to help the children ‘wildflower’ Thirlmere Park, a small, unloved greenspace half a mile from the school. The project featured in the ITV special, Prince William: A Planet for Us All in 2020. 

Part of the Tale of Two Cities project, Everton Park, overlooking the city was transformed by wildflowers. Over 100 streets once stood where the park now lies. The NWC worked with local people, local councils, and schools to plant out three former streets as corridors of colour to commemorate the community that once lived here.  

We have worked with Natural England for over a decade to conserve the rare juniper subspecies that is only found on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. New plants have been cultivated from cuttings and germination trials are being run on the Lizard to increase the remaining population’s genetic diversity.