Yellow Rattle Wildflower Seeds

Hand harvested wildflower seeds from our Devon nature restoration site.

Yellow Rattle, also known as the ‘Meadow maker’ as it’s hemi-parasitic on grasses allowing other wildflowers to come through. It flowers from May to June but in spring you can spot the knobbly leaves appearing low in the grass. 
Sowing – Sow in the autumn into short cut grass so the seed has contact with the soil. On a field scale sew after harrowing, in a garden or wild area rake first so the seed can have contact with the soil. Yellow rattle is sewn in the autumn as the seed needs to go through spells of cold weather below 5 degrees (vernalisation) for germination in the spring. 

Sowing rate – standard 1g per metre square. Thicker grass sward 2g per metre square. Approx 300 seeds per g

Over the last eight years we’ve been restoring our traditional hay meadow, and we’ve been seeing year on year an increase in insects, I can say it’s certainly been buzzing. We’ve also had the opportunity to collect a whole host of wildflower seed. For us it’s been amazing to see the change, the UK has lost 97% of traditional wildflower meadows and there’s a real hope that we can turn that around. With that in mind we’ve put together this page where you can buy some of our seed. I think the saying is true, together we can make a world of difference.