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Pictorial Meadows Seed Mixes
2013 Catalogue TM
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About Us.
Based in Sheffield, UK, Pictorial Meadows brings together horticulturalists, designers, ecologists, landscapers and of course our hard working Dispatch Team. The Company was originally founded by Dr Nigel Dunnett and is part owned by the University of Sheffield and the environmental social enterprise Green Estate. Benefiting from the ongoing research from the University and the pioneering application work of Green Estate, products and knowledge are continually evolving. Pictorial Meadows is the Sheffield School in practice.
As a team we are passionate about the subject and are continually working on improved solutions. Our unique strength comes from our dual role in the landscape industry. We are landscape practitioners ourselves at the forefront of development to new landscape solutions especially in increasingly challenging economic times. As a major user of our own products we have considerable vested interest in impact quality and reliability. This has driven our establishment of the seed company where we can control all element of bespoke design, cost and supply. When our mixes reach you, you will know that they are a product of years of research backed by leading horticulturalists. You will know that the seed is of good quality and that the advice we give is the product of years of observations and trials.
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Meadow Advisory, Establishment and Management Services Pictorial Meadows through it’s parent company, Green Estate Ltd, offers a complete service for successful meadows. Offering help with any element from site analysis, design, implementation and longer term management on any scale or site across the UK, our expert Meadow Team are here to help. Satisfied Customers include Local Authorities, Private Landowners, Housing Associations, Schools, Friends of Parks Groups, and Visitor Attractions. For further details of these services email info@greenestate.org
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About Our Meadow Mixes Pictorial Meadows offers a fresh approach to meadows that has combined ecology, design and a rigorous approach to quality. Offered as either annual or perennial meadows, our mixes contain carefully blended seed from native and non-native species. Annual Pictorial Meadow Mixes provide the easiest, most colourful and reliable of displays. They offer the real wow factor and are suitable to use in all areas from planters and small front gardens to parks and field scale landscapes. Perennial Pictorial Meadow Mixes provide an idealised impressionistic meadow . Theyare very suitable as a transition between more formal plantings and a purely natural or naturalised scheme. They are more sustainable than annuals in the long term and offer exciting new design possibilities. They do however require much more careful preparation and attention through to the end of their first year. After that management and maintenance is relatively simple but well timed operations will always be critical. Bespoke Meadow Mixes. Work on new meadows is evolving all the time. For contract customers we offer one off and bespoke designs. You can phone for details or book on one of our summer seminars to see what's coming next.
Whether you own a window box or a large garden, manage a Stately Home or a Housing Estate, Pictorial Meadows will bring a romantic and enchanted countryside right to your doorstep. Designed to combine sumptuous colour and long flowering interest your garden will also become a real haven for wildlife
Photos sent in by Pictorial Meadows Customers to show the versatility of use.
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About our Best Selling Annual Mixes Designed to give you all the beauty of a traditional cornfield but with a much wider range of species providing colour from late spring into mid-Autumn Pictorial Meadows Annual Mixes overcome many of the problems associated with traditional wildflower meadows such as unreliable germination, short flowering season, loss of colour after mid-summer and the need to sow on low fertile soils. Sow Pictorial Meadows Annual seed mixes in the spring – March, April, May - and they will start to produce superb colour displays within 8 weeks or so of sowing. Unlike other annual meadow mixtures, Pictorial Meadows mixtures are formulated so that as one species in the mix starts to die back it is replaced by another to give continuous ever changing displays. You don’t need to worry about your soil conditions - just pick the colour mix you prefer - they work in all types of soil. The sowing rate is 2.5 - 3 grams per square metre.
Photos above taken at the Olympic Park courtesy of Laura Cryer
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NEW - Pictorial Meadows “Golden Girl” Annual Mix It's wasn’t just Team GB that were a success in the summer of 2012. Visitors to the Olympic Park were wowed by wonderful flower meadow displays. As a Sheffield based company we are proud to introduce the Pictorial Meadows "Golden Girl" Annual Mix in honour of a certain local athlete. Capture the memories of the event and the look of the Olympic Park yourself with this celebratory mix. Featuring various species of : Californian Poppy Eschscholzia California African Daisy Dimorphotheca Sinuata Golden tickseed Coreopsis Tinctorial Corn Marigold Chrysanthemum Segetum Blue Cornflower Centaurea Cyanus
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NEW – Pictorial Meadows “Grandstand” Annual Mix
NEW – Pictorial Meadows “Blue Wave” Annual Mix
Designed with stunning and vibrant colours interspersed with dramatic tall varieties this mix wowed visitors to the Olympic Park and was featured next to what was claimed to be the world’s largest burger restaurant.
The Blue Wave mix is designed to reflect the shimmering waters of the aqua centre. It combines different shades of blue species that flower at different times during the season to create a continuing long flowering display;
Included in the mix are : Bishops Flower Ammi Majus Larkspur Delphinium Ajacis Red Orache Atriplex Hortensis and Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia Hirta
Main Species include: Cornflower Centaurea Cyanus Blue Salvia Salvia Horminium Blue Larkspur Delphinium Ajacis Viper’s Bugloss Echium Vulgare
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Pictorial Meadows “Standard/Classic� Annual Mix The original Pictorial Meadows mix, shown here in the main picture at The Eden Project, produces stunning displays through until late October / November, starting out with white, blues, pinks and reds, turning to reds, orange and yellow in the autumn. The mix has been carefully balanced for colour and succession of display. Components include: Shirley Poppy, Pavader Rhoeas Californian Poppy, Eschscholzia Californica Cornflower, Centaurea Cyanus Fairy Toadflax, Linaria Maroccana Tickseed Coreopsis Tinctorial Red Orache Atriplex Hortensis and Larkspur. Delphinium Ajacis
General Height: 60cm.
Late season flowering
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Pictorial Meadows “Short� Annual Mix A mix suited especially to more restricted or compact situations, but having the same long-flowering characteristics of the standard mixture. Components include : Fairy Toadflax Linaria Maroccana Red Flax Linum Grandiflorum Rubrum Shirley Poppy Papaver Rhoeas Love-in-a-mist Nigella Damascena Candytuft Iberis Unbellata Blue Flax Linum Usitatissimum General Height: 30-40 cm.
Late season flowering
An exciting to alternative nts la p bedding
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Pictorial Meadows “Marmalade” Annual Mix A wonderful mix of rich tones of yellow, orange and reds. Made from a tasty recipe including : Corn Marigold Chrysanthemum Segetum Red Flax Linum Grandiflorum Rubrum Painted Daisy, Chrysanthemum Carinatum Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia Hirta Californian Poppy Eschscholzia Californica
Pictorial Meadows “Candy’ Annual Mix A vibrant collection of bright sparkling colours including sweet purples, playful yellows, radiant reds with a splash of wispy-whites and baby-blues producing stunning eye-candy effects. Main components: Tickseed Coreopsis Tinctoria Fairy Toadflax Linaria Maroccana Field Poppy Papaver Rhoeas Cornflower Centaurea Cyanus Californian Poppy Eschscholzia Californica Corn Marigold Chrysanthemum Segetum
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Pictorial Meadows “Pastel” Annual Mix
Pictorial Meadows “Contrasting” Annual Mix
A beautiful ‘strawberries & cream’ mix of white and pink with a scattering of clear blue. Particularly impressive towards the end of the flowering period when pink takes over from blue as the dominant colour theme.
A vibrant mix with a combination of orange and yellow with contrasting blue components and smattering of reds. Photo courtesy of Telford & Wrekin Council on one of the many traffic islands the council sow Pictorial Meadows displays each year.
Gently blending elements such as : Bishops Flower Ammi Majus Cosmos Cosmos Bipinnatus Cornflower Centaurea Cyanus and Shirley Poppy Papaver Rhoeas
Throwing together species like Cornflower Centaurea Cyanus Red Flax Linum Grandiflorum "Rubrum" Baby Blue Eyes Nemophila Insignia and Larkspur. Delphinium Ajacis
Pictorial Meadows “Volcanic” Annual Mix A fiery mix of reds with some purple and a splash of gold, giving an eruption of flowers including : Red Clover, Trifolium Incarnatum Red Flax Linum Grandiflorum Rubrum Purple Cornflower Centaurea Cyanus and Red Orache Atriplex Hortensis
Pictorial Meadows “Cornfield” Annual Mix A carefully selected mix of pretty cornfield annuals that will flower mainly in July and August. Inc : Field Poppy Papaver Rhoeas Cornflower Centaurea Cyanus Scentless Mayweed Matricaria Inodora and Corncockle Agrostemma Githago
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About our Pictorial Meadows Perennial Mixes Pictorial Meadows Perennial Mixes are robust and reliable mixes dominated by Northern and Central European native meadow plants with a sprinkling of other more exotic species to extend the flowering period and add drama. While lacking the overwhelming flower-power of the annual meadows, our perennial meadows share the same characteristics of very long seasons of flowering and harmonious colour displays. Recently reformulated, they provide exciting forms of planting which are also highly attractive to wildlife. Like all Pictorial Meadow Mixes the carefully designed recipes produce long-lasting colour from spring to late autumn and once established can be simply managed through an annual meadow cut in late February. Full establishment and management instructions will be provided or you can read them on our website. Suggested average sowing rate is around 2g per sq m. Sowing can take place from early Autumn through to late spring with October/November being the best. Over time your meadow will create its own changing patterns. Species composition will change dynamically in response to the weather and other external factors. Bespoke Mixes can be produced for larger projects - call us to discuss
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Pictorial Meadows “Golden Summer” Perennial Mix
Pictorial Meadows “Woodland Edge” Perennial Mix
A Colour-themed mixture for normal fertility soils . Generally yellows and golds with hints of orange and purple. Our most popular perennial mix. The mix contains 18 different species including :
Ideal for shady areas. Free flowering mixture to sow in semi-shaded situations or to use to provide shorter term colour and interest around new tree and shrub plantings. The mix contains 17 different species Including :
Garden Yarrow Achillea Millefolium Perennial Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia Fulgida Deamii Lance-leaf Coreopsis Coroepsis Lanceolata Lady’s Bedstraw Galium Verum Meadow Buttercup Ranunculus Acris
Red Campion Silene Dioica Oxe-eye Daisy Leucanthemum Vulgare American Wood Aster Aster Divicarius Wood Avens Geum Urbanum Foxglove Digitalis Purpurea
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Pictorial Meadows “Purple Haze” Perennial Mix
Pictorial Meadows “Native Meadow” Perennial Mix
A Colour themed mixture for normal fertility soils. Predominantly mauve and blue with billows of white and flashes of red for contrast. 22 species including:
A more traditional and subdued meadow. Suitable for conservation sites . A selection of very dependable native species without grass that will succeed in a wide range of soils and conditions. Flowering predominantly in June, July and August. 19 species including :
Field Scabious Knautia arvensis Michaelmas Daisy Aster Amelus Hedge Bedstraw Galium Mollugo Perennial Flax Linum Perenne Oxe-eye Daisy, Leucanthemum Vulgare Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea
Oxe-eye Daisy Leucanthemum Vulgare Lady’s Bedstraw Galium Verum Greater Knapweed Centaurea Scabiosa Black Knapweed Centaurea Nigra St John’s Wort Hypericum Perforatum
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New – Pictorial Meadows “Roadside Picnic” Perennial Mix.
New – Pictorial Meadows “Treasure Chest” Perennial Mix
New – Pictorial Meadows “Patchwork Quilt” Perennial Mix
A dramatic and colourful long season meadow mix designed for the most infertile and free draining of sites. Suitable for use on pure brick rubble and demolition sites.
A robust leafy and very richly-coloured meadow designed for normal fertility soils
An open lower canopy meadow designed for less fertile soils but providing a riot of colour and shape from spring to late autumn.
Mix feaures 21 species including : Perennial Flax Linum Perrene Hollyhocks Alcea Ficifolia Hybrids Chives Allium Schoenoprasum Red Valerian Centranthus Rubra Evening Primrose Oernothera Odorata Carthusian Pink Dianthus Carthusianorum
21 species including : Devil's Bit Scabious Succisa pratensis Wood Betony Betonica officinalis Great Burnet Sanguisorba Officinalis Meadow Cranesbill Geranium Pratense Hollyhock Mallow Malva Alcea Woodland Sage Salvia Nemerosa
21 species including : Musk Mallow Malva Moschata Greater Knapweed Centaurea Scabiosa Vipers Bugloss Echium Vulgare Field Scabious Knautia Arvensis Oriental Poppy Papaver Orientalis Hard Fescue Fastuca Longifolia Wild Marjoram Origanum Vulgare
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Pictorial Meadows Green Roof Perennial Seed Mixes Green Roofs are vegetated layers that sit on top of the conventional roof surfaces of a building. They are composed of lightweight layers of free-draining material that support low-growing tough drought-resistant vegetation. Because of their very wide range of environmental and economic benefits , green roofs have become important elements of sustainable and green construction in many counties. Establishing a Green Roof from seed is a simple and cost effective solution compared to the use of sedum mats or plug plants Pictorial Meadows offer a range of seed mixes designed to withstand the rigours of a roof top environment whilst provide a rich biodiverse ecosystem and a colourful floral display. We offer 3 main green roof mixes with and without grass and can custom design larger orders to location and budget
Green Roof Installation and Maintenance. Green Estate Ltd, Pictorial Meadows parent company, offer a nationwide service for supply and maintenance of green roofs. Offering bespoke horticultural solutions to meet the specific needs of the customer whether it be an urban high rise, domestic retrofit or a Visitor Centre in a National Park. For further information email info@greenestate.org or visit our website www.greenestate.org.uk
Pictorial Meadows Ltd Manor Oaks Farmhouse 389 Manor Lane Sheffield S2 1UL Tel 0114 267 7635 Fax 0114 267 7636 Email: info@greenestate.org www.pictorialmeadows.co.uk Pictorial Meadows is a Registered Trade Mark of Pictorial Meadows Ltd We reserve the right to alter the composition of our mixes without notice.