Eden horticulturalist in a field of wildflowers

National Wildflower Centre

Part of the Eden Project, the National Wildflower Centre (NWC) uses wildflowers to bring biodiversity, delight and colour into the lives of communities across the UK.

From hedges, fields, and woodlands to roundabouts, housing estates, churchyards and cemeteries, we want everyone to experience the glory of wildflowers.

Our projects combine conservation, creativity and colour to make new wildflower habitats that support wildlife and connect people to the natural world.

Support our work

Why we need more wildflower habitats

Did you know?

The UK has lost 97% of its wildflower habitats since WWII.

Wildflowers were once a significant part of the British landscape until WWII when huge amounts of meadow were ploughed for arable farming. Today, they account for less than 1% of the British countryside.

Wildflowers:

connect people with the natural world
transform underused spaces into vibrant living landscapes
help pollinators that are currently under threat
contribute to pride of place
show your community is actively doing its bit to increase biodiversity
provide opportunities to learn about nature and biodiversity.

Bringing biodiversity, delight and colour

National Wildflower Centre-planted wildflower fields at the Eden Project.

Harvesting at Heligan with ‘Buttercup’ the NWC combine.

Harvesting at Heligan with ‘Buttercup’ the National Wildflower Centre combine harvester.

Woman standing in wildflowers in Liverpool

Everton Park, the Grow Wild England flagship project.

A blue haze of cornflowers.

People in St Agnes Park, Liverpool, painting a big flag saying Sowing Seeds

Celebrating new wildflower meadows in St Agnes Park, Liverpool.

Poppies in Manchester from A Tale of Two Cities Project.

Seed drying in our greenhouses.

Wildflowers such as these devil’s bit scabious are important for pollinators.

Everton Park in Liverpool: putting wildflowers on people’s doorsteps.

Schoolchildren sowing seed in Princes Park, Toxteth, Liverpool.

Wildflower projects nationwide

Creative conservation is at the heart of the National Wildflower Centre’s projects. We create new wildflower landscapes in partnership with communities, businesses, local and parish councils, and other NGOs, and run conservation projects that bring threatened species back from the brink.

What we've achieved

Over 10,000 plug plants of devil’s-bit scabious, were grown to help boost the population of the threatened marsh fritillary butterfly, which relies on the plant to feed its larva. The plants were planted along the A30 road to create a corridor between known marsh fritillary populations in north and southwest Cornwall. Additional plants were grown for marsh fritillary egg translocation on the Lizard Peninsula to boost the butterfly populations there.

The National Wildflower Centre is working with Cornwall Council and Griffiths Civil Engineering and Construction to ensure the new St Austell A30 Link Road (The Garden Route) becomes the greenest possible gateway to the Eden Project and St Austell town by creating over 18 hectares of new wildflower, woodland, and heathland habitat. The NWC is creating a series of wildflower mixes to line the new St Austell Link Road, a 4-mile single carriageway that will connect the old A30 near Victoria to the north and the A391 at Stenalees roundabout to the south.

Working with St Austell bay Economic Forum the NWC team have also planted wildflowers on the St Austell A391, as part of a wider regeneration project aiming to make St Austell Bay a beautiful and healthy place to be.

Liverpool, the original home of the National Wildflower Centre, saw the first seeds sown of the Liverpool Wildflower Gateways Project in 2019. Funded by Liverpool City Council, the project is creating a network of wildflower displays that radiate out along the main routes into the city.

In 2021 the NWC sowed wildflowers in 17 of the 30 Liverpool City Wards including Toxteth, Sefton, Princess Park and Anfield.

The NWC worked with Porthcurno Telegraph museum to create a wildflower display in the gardens surrounding the Museum to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first cable from Porthcurno. The mix the NWC created includes both annual and perennial wildflowers that naturally occur both in Cornwall and Malta, to highlight the route of the cable.

Help wildflowers flourish

We work with communities, local government, developers, landscapers and businesses to create new wildflower landscapes.

Work with the National Wildflower Centre

Consultancy services

We offer a range of services including technical advice and guidance on ecological restoration and the creation of new wildflower landscapes, including site selection, soil fertility, seed mixes and provenance, and community engagement approaches.

We advise local government at all levels, from parishes that want to bring colour to their verges to cities that want to revitalise their parks. We work with other environmental organisations to cultivate and conserve species on the brink of extinction, and help developers, landscapers and others businesses bring biodiversity to their projects. Get in touch to find out more.

Volunteer

From time to time, we need volunteers to help with our work such as seed collecting and seed cleaning. All of our volunteers are trained and supervised. If you are interested in volunteering with the National Wildflower Centre please get in touch.

Grow with us

We’re on the lookout for donor sites where we can collect seed that’s already growing wild, and for landowners who can help us grow wildflowers for seed crop.

We harvest by hand with trained and fully supervised volunteers and use a combine for single-species crops.

If you have land that’s already growing patches of wildflowers that we can harvest for use in our habitat creation projects, or if you own fields that we could rent for cultivation please get in touch. See our species list to find out which plants we’re particularly interested in collecting.

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