It's the month of June and everything looks so beautiful, especially the flowers.
A few years ago I started noticing wild flowers on the sides of the roads around the South Yorkshire area. At first I thought Rotherham council had gone on strike and let the central reservations grow out of control.
The scheme which started in 2013 was provided by a local Sheffield company called Pictorial Meadows Ltd.
The key factors were to encourage wildlife, support biodiversity and reduce the maintenance of the highways.
They created a wild flower meadow of around 8 miles which looks absolutely beautiful as you drive around.
And like wild flower seeds it has now spread to all parts of South Yorkshire and beyond.
Many forward thinking councils around the country have adopted wild flower meadows for dual carriageways , roundabouts and roads in general. From what I can see it's become quite a trend around the country with lots of public places and outdoor areas making their own wildflower meadows .
All the magazines as well as Gardeners World on the BBC have featured wildflower meadows and gardens . Around our area there are lots of native wildflowers on the roadsides and in particular species like the Red Orache, Fairy toadflax, alliums, cornflowers and Californian poppies.
It's so refreshing to see these roadside meadows of natural beauty , rather than row upon row of soldier like potted plant verges and lawn mower striped football pitches.
Plus it's all great for the environment, especially the bees.
Our own garden tends be a little ramshackle and it merges in with the surrounding fields around Roche Abbey creating a natural environment and a haven for the bees. We have now added our own wild flower area , here are a few pictures of it.
Wildflowers from the garden.
Our garden gave me lots of inspiration for a range of simple wild flower cards made up of daisies and forget-me -nots . I see these flowers every year, along with lots of butterflies and bumblebees.
I thought it would be nice for our customers to adopt a first name with a letter made of wild flowers. So I've shaped daisies and forget-me-nots into all the letters of the alphabet .
A complete A- Z .
I added them to our website late last night and it's great to see they are already selling well.
