Wildflower meadows are growing in popularity in cities around Australia as a more sustainable and colourful alternative to lawn in urban environments.
The Robert Wright Park meadow is self-sustaining, with the wildflowers dropping their seeds to regrow in spring.
The meadow creates more diversity of species by providing a natural habitat for birds, insects and small animals.
It’s also low maintenance, with a selective herbicide used to control annual weedy grasses, together with a little hand weeding.
While other wildflower meadows are typically hand-seeded, City of Onkaparinga created its meadow via hydroseeding, which involves spraying liquid mulch mixed with wildflower seeds on to a cleared and composted site.
It’s believed the Woodcroft trial might be the first of this kind in Australia.
It’s anticipated native flower mixes can be used in the future to plant out areas which require drought-resistant species.
Council is using Robert Wright Park as a trial site, and it’s keen to expand the wildflower meadow model to other areas such as roundabouts and larger scale locations.
Residents and visitors are encouraged to brighten their day by visiting the New England Drive reserve and experience the nature-rich space which brings a little piece of the countryside into the suburbs.
Robert Wright Park also contains a playground, BMX track and skate park.