Wild flowers soon set for bloom across Swansea

Residents, commuters and visitors will soon be enjoying a blooming beautiful drive in and out of Swansea city centre every day.

Staff from Swansea Council’s parks service have been putting the finishing touches to preparations for a wild flower display on grassed central reservation areas of Fabian Way – one of the busiest roads in and out of the city.

The location is one of over 180 across Swansea that will benefit from wild flower displays this summer. Wild flowers at many of the locations are expected to be in full bloom from early next month until the autumn.

In total, Swansea residents and visitors to the city will benefit from over 41,000 square metres of wild flowers – that’s 11,000 more square metres than last year.

Colourful seed mixtures have been planted in areas of roundabouts, roadside verges and parks.

The wild flowers scheme is funded by Swansea Council, Community Councils and local Ward Members via their environmental allowances.

Cllr Mark Child, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Healthy City and Wellbeing, said: “Our wild flowers will cover the equivalent of about seven football pitches in size this summer, making the display the biggest we’ve ever organised. We’ve done this to cater for public demand because the praise we’ve had from residents and visitors has been overwhelmingly positive since the scheme was first introduced.

“It’s not just roundabouts and parks that will benefit. Many roadside verges will also be awash with colour over coming weeks, as well as sections of some of the busiest roads in Swansea, including Fabian Way.

“Our wild flowers are hugely popular because they look great, they raise people’s spirits and they boost biodiversity by attracting more bees and other pollinators to urban areas. The success of the scheme means other councils across the UK are now looking to follow in our footsteps.”

Seed mixtures will include colour bouquets orange, carpet red and gold, and rainbow annual. The council’s parks service also works in partnership with the Friends of the Botanical Gardens, who sell the seeds during their plant sale events.

The wild flower scheme was one of a number of sustainable initiatives that led to the council winning a Sustain Wales award for excellence late last year.