Date 28 August

Enhance your greenspaces with wildflower seeds from York Museum Gardens!

Take home a piece of York Museum Gardens and create your own natural wildflower habitat to support pollinators and wildlife! After the success of the wildflower meadow for the second summer season, York Museum Gardens is once again collecting the seeds and encouraging visitors to grow their own wildflowers at home. 

This year the meadow, which sits behind York Art Gallery, was planted with 27 native species plus grainfield staples such as corn cockle, field poppies, and corn camomile (a tall daisy-like plant). After a succession of colourful displays throughout the summer, the meadow has now been scythed and the materials redistributed throughout the gardens. The Garden Team have taken time to collect, sort, weigh and package hundreds of seeds by hand which are for sale at a low cost. A range of wildflower seeds are now available to purchase from the York Art Gallery and Yorkshire Museum gift shops. 

Steve Williams, Garden Manager at York Museums Trust said: “The wildflower meadow has bought joy to so many people throughout the summer months, many of whom have watched it develop, and it has provided excellent habitat and food source for insects, small mammals and other pollinators – a wonderful natural green space in the heart of urban York. We are so pleased to be able to offer our visitors a chance to take home a piece of the garden and grow their own wildflowers to support nature where they live. We produce and sell a range of plants and seeds throughout the year which can be purchased from the plant bench outside the Yorkshire Museum. All plants are grown in York Museum Gardens and housed in recycled pots, providing a sustainable selection of plants to take home.  

“At the end of the summer season we use the heritage agricultural method of scything the meadow by hand with help from the St Nick’s team (Friends of St Nicholas Fields, a local charity involved in many green space activities and recycling). We utilise the scythed material throughout the gardens, some is added to our compost and some if left in stacks to provide habitat for animals over winter, and potentially nesting material in the Spring. We all need to think about how we can support nature which is under more pressure from climate change than ever before. We hope the wildflower meadow inspires people to set aside a little area of their own gardens for nature and to adopt a more naturalistic approach where possible.” 

The seed packets are available to buy now from the York Art Gallery and Yorkshire Museum gift shops, subject to opening hours and availability. All proceeds from seed sales are reinvested back into York Museum Gardens, helping to maintain and care for wildlife and plant life in the heart of the city.