A seed of an idea

There is a lot more to successful wildflower propagation than scattering a packet and hoping for the best, discovers Tilly Ware, as she visits the UK’s biggest wild-seed producer

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TO farmers, I'm the weed man,' declares Donald MacIntyre, founder of Emorsgate Seeds and conservation pioneer. He started collecting wildflowers from east London wastelands in 1980, pinching paper bags from supermarkets to store his coltsfoot. His first growing space was a five-acre plot borrowed from Norfolk County Council, together with snatched corners in council-house gardens across the Fens.

Today, Emorsgate is the UK's biggest wildgrass and flower-seed company, managing 850 acres across sites in Norfolk and Bath, Somerset. On two contrasting topographies -silty and flat in the East, heavy and hilly in the West-the company grows an extensive range of wild-origin plants. Seed is gathered with permission from Natural England or from landowners, then logged in an in-depth database. The seeds are sown in multiplication beds, before being precision drilled into large-scale rows for harvesting.

Emorsgate currently offers a core list of 222 species, comprising about 70% flowers and 30% grasses and sedges. All are specifically suited to certain site conditions for increased biodiversity; these are not the non-native garden plants used in a designer 'meadow'. Many wildflower companies use garden- or agricultural-origin seed, which does not have the diversity of the true species; Emorsgate takes great care to maintain the genetic variation of the wild plants. The businesses coming into this market now focus on easy wins,' notes Mr MacIntyre.