Published on 02 February 2022

Wildflowers blooming at Aberfoyle Park

The entrance and garden borders at Aberfoyle’s Thalassa Park are awash with colour as the latest in City of Onkaparinga’s wildflower meadow work springs to life.

Wildflower meadows are growing in popularity in cities around Australia as a more sustainable and colourful alternative to lawn in urban environments, and Thalassa is the second meadow applied by council following a successful trial at Woodcroft’s Robert Wright Park last year.

While other wildflower meadows are typically hand-seeded, council has created its meadows via hydroseeding, which involves spraying liquid mulch mixed with wildflower seeds on to a cleared and composted site.

The Thalassa wildflower meadow will be flowering over about nine months of the year and it features about 40 plant species that will come and go throughout the seasons. The wildflowers are self-sustaining, dropping their seeds to regrow in spring.

And the meadows aren’t just pretty to look at. Wildflower meadows serve important ecological functions such as providing food and shelter for insects. They also attract predatory insects to help protect the garden from pests, and help to cool the garden due to its dense coverage.

Council is planning to trial an all-native flowering grassland in a few locations using the same techniques this year, and if successful they hope to roll it out across more reserves.

Visit the wildflower meadow now at Thalassa Park, Windebanks Road, Aberfoyle Park.