• Skip to content
  • Skip to navigation
Logo: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Your Account
  • Menu
Close menu
Close
  • About the Council
  • Business and Economy
  • Children and Families
  • Community and Living
  • Council Tax and Benefits
  • Education and Learning
  • Environment and Waste
  • Health and Social Care
  • Housing
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Leisure and Culture
  • Planning and Development
  • Transport and Streets
  • See all news
  • See all events
  1. Home
  2. Transport and streets
  3. Roads and pavements
  4. Grass and verges maintenance schedule

Grass and verges maintenance schedule

In this section

  1. Grass cutting
  2. You are here: Wildflower planting scheme

Wildflower planting scheme

In 2013, Rotherham Council commissioned Pictorial Meadows Ltd to install an eight mile long "River of Flowers" on the central reservations of the town’s main ring road using their wildflower seed mixes.

The Council’s new planting scheme and management of these areas benefits:

  • Rotherham’s wildlife
  • Supports the delivery of the Rotherham Biodiversity Action Plan
  • Reduces the level of maintenance required.

This meadow-type habitat of native wildflowers and bulbs with the addition of selected non-native flower species provides nectar, flowers and seeds and food sources for many insects, birds and even some mammals.

Pictorial Meadows delivered much of the planting at the Olympic Village in London for the 2012 Games.

The seeds have been cultivated with locally-grown and blended meadow seed from the restored farm at Sheffield Manor Lodge.

Flower species include the Red Orache, Fairy Toadflax, various poppies including the Californian Poppy, cornflowers, and corn marigolds. The naturalised bulb planted areas included alliums.

They are a mix of annuals, which have a long flowering season achieved by using a successional approach as well as low growing early flowers which bloom against the fresh foliage of the later-flowering species. A proportion of later-flowering species grow tall hiding the remains of the earlier species.

The scheme has been a real success, as well as being good news for the environment, creating aesthetically pleasing highways and reducing the level of maintenance required, it has helped to save the council approximately £23,000 for each two year cycle.

The Council received over 250 emails and letters of praise, in the year following the first germination in July 2013 and continues to receive praise from local residents and from visitors from all over the Country.

Request more information about the bio-diversity scheme 

  • Previous page: Grass cutting

Stay connected

Sign up for our newsletter
Footer Logo: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
  • About this website
  • Accessibility statement
  • Privacy
  • Languages
  • Contact Us
  • Location
  • Terms and conditions
  • Facebook logo
  • Twitter logo
  • YouTube logo
  • Instagram logo
  • LinkedIn logo

All content © 2025 Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. All Rights Reserved.

Designed and Powered by Jadu.

chatbot launch button image
Left Right
Full Wide Split Narrow
Chatbot avatar image
Hi, I'm Bailey
I'm here to answer your questions.

Hi, I'm Bailey, how can I help you today? You can ask me questions relating to a number of council services.

To start a chat you will need to click 'continue' to confirm you have read and understood our terms and conditions Privacy Policy.

Privacy Statement