Lambeth Bee Roads team push ahead with our mission to replace roadside turf with wildflowers for bees and more pollinators. Now we’re waiting for seedlings to establish. We’ll monitor growth over the summer months.
Greening estates
Agnes Riley Gardens Friends group and One O’Clock Club are among local groups who’ve helped organise planting events. St Matthews Estate TRA organised a Spring Garden Fair where we gave out wildflower seeds, and sow wildflower walkways leading into a rain garden project for the estate. Weir Road TRA and local residents also joined the Council team seeding and planting wildflowers in grass margins on their estate.
Checking what grows where
Wildflower planting for Bee Roads
We’re leaving grass verges uncut in roadsides like Clarence Avenue – not just No Mow May, but all summer – to review what wildflowers already grow there. At the end of summer, we’ll review areas for overseeding and bulb planting to bring more flowers next year.
Autumn planting for spring flowers
We’re thinking ahead for autumn bulb planting, identifying sites and groups who’d like Council support to improve their local environment. Some spring flower bulbs, like crocus, bluebells, hyacinths, grape hyacinth and wild daffodils, are especially rich in pollen and nectar for pollinators. If you know a TRA or Park Friends group looking to plant pollinator-friendly bulbs in roadside spaces please contact the Lambeth Bee Roads Project Officer.
More information
- Lambeth Bee Roads is Lambeth Council’s plan to work with communities on rewilding an extensive network of roadsides, transforming amenity grass areas into wilder areas, including wildflower meadows, naturalised grass areas, new hedges and wildlife-friendly planting.
- Find out what you can do at home to attract pollinators and link up Lambeth’s green spaces on the beeroads website.
- Share photos of flowers and pollinators you spot in roadside verges and green spaces in Lambeth this summer with hashtag #LambethBeeRoads and we’ll enter you into our competition to win a wildflower seed and spring bulb pack! Winning photos will be chosen in September and winners contacted directly.
- Lambeth Bee Roads is supported by a £440k grant from the Mayor of London’s Green and Resilient Spaces Fund to create and improve spaces enhancing our resilience to climate change.. Thames Water are an active partner in plans to create self-sustaining rain gardens that improve drainage.
- To volunteer to change roadsides into wildflower meadows, email parks@lambeth.gov.uk, putting ‘Lambeth Bee Roads’ in the subject line.
- This project was inspired by residents’ recommendations in Lambeth’s Climate Assembly, our Pollinator Action Plan and Green Infrastructure Strategy, and external influencers including Plantlife Highway Verges campaign and the Mayor of London on Reimagining Rainwater.
