Every flower counts

Scroll down for Video

Gardeners are being asked to look at their lawns this Spring Bank Holiday Weekend (Saturday 25 May to Monday 27 May) for a new annual survey by Plantlife.

The ‘Every Flower Counts’ survey by the charity aims to work out how many flowers are on our lawns, how much nectar they’re producing and how many bees they can support.

Plants need pollinators and pollinators need plants: the more wildflowers you have in your lawn – and the more varieties – the more nectar will be produced.

If you 'Say No Mow' and leave areas of your lawn unmown, you’re likely to have many more wildflowers and lots more nectar.

On a single day in summer, one acre of wildflower meadow can contain 3 million flowers, producing 1 kg of nectar sugar. That’s enough to support nearly 96,000 honeybees per day.

 

 

Since the 1930s, we have lost nearly 7.5 million acres of flower-rich meadows and pastures (97%), so just 1% of our countryside now provides this floral feast for pollinators.

Against this loss, habitats such as lawns have become increasingly important.

With 15 million gardens in Britain, our lawns have the potential to become major sources of nectar.

Plantlife says no one has ever quantified this resource before, hence the introduction of Every Flower Counts.

This is what Every Flower Counts aims to do: work out how many flowers are on our lawns, how much nectar they’re producing and how many bees they can support through the calculation of our first ever National Nectar Score.

Every Flower Counts will then allow Plantlife to monitor trends over time:

• Can we manage our lawns differently to increase the National Nectar Score?
• Will climate change have an impact on flowering and nectar production?
• What are the most abundant flowers and what can we do to encourage them?

By taking part in Every Flower Counts, you’ll help us answer these questions and get your very own Personal Nectar Score to show how many bees your lawn can support.

To take part, please register here first:

• www.plantlife.org.uk/everyflowercounts/