Austell Green

National Wildflower Centre

The Eden Project is the new home to the National Wildflower Centre. The work of the National Wildflower Centre as part of Eden’s Life Sciences’ team is about making a real difference to restore the wild habitats, species, landscapes and biodiversity through a programme of cultural ecology on a regional, national and international scale, encouraging further collaborations and links with the South West, our local projects, partners and communities.

The National Wildflower Centre (NWC) is devising new programmes with the bold aims of reversing ecological decline and bringing wildflowers back into the UK’s living culture. This is a response to the challenge of the world’s sixth great extinction, showing how policy can be changed and challenging what ‘green infrastructure’ is in the modern world. The aim is to use wildflowers to bring biodiversity, delight and colour into the lives of communities, bridging social divides and stereotypes.

The National Wildflower Centre opened in the Knowsley borough of Merseyside in 2000 as a Millennium project, funded by the Millennium Commission and Big Lottery. It closed in January 2017 and the Eden Project stepped in to save its legacy and build a new partnership that will continue to flourish from its new South West base. The establishment of the NWC at Eden Project was supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Charitable Trust.

The National Wildflower Centre has been appointed by Cornwall Council to create a planting scheme for the new A30 to St Austell link road. Six different wildflower mixes have been specified to plant along the roadside corridor, the species are chosen to reflect the local flora of Cornwall with a significant quantity of heather seeding. Seeds will be sourced from wild populations growing locally, work has begun to collect wild Red Campion, Foxglove, Bird’s Foot Trefoil and cornfield annual seed from the wildflower fields at the Eden Project.

Find out more here

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