Berkshire golf course introduces swathe of wildflowers

By Alistair July 14, 2018 07:34

As part of course manager Matt Aplin’s strategy to improve the ecological footprint of Goring and Streatley Golf Club, the “amazingly colourful results” of sowing Euroflor wildflowers “attracted as many complimentary comments about the outstanding display of colour as about the quality and performance of our greens”, he says.

Since Matt was appointed course manager at the Berkshire club in 2015, he has constantly been looking for opportunities to improve the course’s ecological footprint and last year identified a rough area adjacent to the 14th hole that he wanted to improve.

“The Euroflor Sarah Bouquet mix of annuals was chosen on the advice of club member Joyce Gustard, who is renowned among the membership for the quality of the floral display in her own garden. The impact was tremendous from June right through to October.

“That success has spurred us to double the overall amount of space sown with Euroflor wildflowers this year and because we have used less seed (perhaps just 65 per cent of what we sowed last year on a similar-sized plot), we will effectively have double the amount of colour for a relatively low additional cost.”

Another way in which Matt recovered some of the cost of the outlay on seed was to re-sell to members small Discovery packs (also supplied by Rigby Taylor) of the wildflower seeds.

The cost savings to the club have also been aided by the fact that at the end of last season Matt cut down the plants and left them where they fell, to encourage natural seeding. “That equates to real value for money.”