Euroflor range featured in Horticulture Week
Rigby Taylor and Top Green's Euroflor range was featured in the April edition of Horticulture Week.
The article, written by Sally Drury, focussed on the savings that can be made from low-maintenance seed mixtures, as well as biodiversity and carbon sequestration.
Part of the article ran: "Grass-cutting is a key budgetary issue and considerable savings can be made on fuel, machinery, labour costs and clearing-up operations by looking carefully at choice of seed.
Selecting varieties that have been bred specifically for slower re-growth can reduce the frequency of cutting by more than 30 per cent.
'Cultivars contained in our new range of Landscape & Environmental grass seed mixtures help to create and maintain more successful grass cover with the added significant benefit of reducing maintenance costs,' says Rigby Taylor director of seed research Brian Robinson.
'Equally important, these grasses produce less weight and volume of clippings, saving on disposal costs'."
The piece continued, talking about Euroflor and one of the trial sites at Trethorne Golf Club, in Cornwall: "Leading the way in urban flower seed mixtures, Top Green and seed agent Rigby Taylor have jointly developed a range of 14 flower mixtures, called Euroflor, for introduction this spring. Trials included plots at Trethorne Golf Club in Cornwall, with evaluation by course manager, Justin Austin, and gardener Sarah Austin.
'We decided to replace some of the areas of rough with the Euroflor urban flower mixtures and the results have been very exciting, not just for us but also for members of the club and the pubic,' says Justin Austin.
'Our industry has seen more dramatic changes in the past five years than the previous 30 years. When looking at flora it is not just about pretty flowers but biodiversity and carbon sequestration.'
Flower mixtures at the course include Sarah Bouquet - created by Sarah Austin together with Rigby Taylor, from a mix of 50 annual and wild flower species. A clean seed bed is all that is required before sowing.
The main aim is to stop weed infestation from the very beginning because no matter what the soil type, they all contain weed seeds. The seed is then mixed with sand and lightly incorporated into the top of the soil at a rate of around 4g per square metre.
Sown from March, plants will flower around May and will flourish until the first frosts in October or November.
TOR2 parks and open spaces service manager Richard Barton has also trialled the flowers in Torbay. 'Initially we experimented by using the Euroflor mixtures in small areas but then introduced a large area of flowers in one of our parks. We have had increased visits to look specifically at these flowers and so will be extending their use into other areas,' he reports. 'They are certainly more cost-effective than using bedding plants, which is also an important consideration'."
