Enhancement of Acid Grasslands on either side of the A66

British Wild Flower Plants (BWFPs) have supplied around 100,000 native wild flowers for a two and a half hectare planting scheme on either side of the A66 in County Durham.

Linda Laxton, MD and owner of the specialist wild flower nursery in Norfolk says that the trunk road abuts an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty at it's highest elevation and the plants have been used by a government agency to enhance the existing highway verge.

"We've supplied twenty native, acid loving species in total including Harebells, Common Catsear, Lesser Knapweed, Dog Violet and Sheep Sorrel," she explains. "An order this size was no problem, as we sell on average over a million plants a year all grown from seed collected in various parts of the UK. The only species we didn't have in stock were Bilberry and Heather which we had grown to contract."

Although the newly planted area is one of the highest and most exposed in the country Linda is quite confident that the plants will thrive. "I'm sure the scheme will be a success, because our native wild species are the toughest flowers growing in Britain," she says. "They've been here longer than any other plants and learnt to survive."

For further information visit BWFPs at www.wildflowers.co.uk or Tel: 01603 716615