Verges are vital in linking isolated patches of habitat and helping with dispersal and colonisation.

Not only that, the pleasure many of us have as we look at the beautiful flowers colouring our verges is enormous. 

Wildflowers on verges don’t have it easy, of course, thanks to output from vehicle exhausts.

The wildflower charity Plantlife has a petition to rationalise the management of our verges.  It has a Road Verge Campaign.

45% of flora growing along our verges includes about 100 of our most vulnerable and rarest plants.  

And Plantlife thinks local councils could benefit from verges with wildflowers.

So it’s produced a Good Verge Guide.  It says that early cutting and frequent cutting reduces plant diversity.  It encourages coarse grasses and plants such as cow parsley which require more cutting. 

Plantlife says the best time to cut is between mid-July and late September, and to do it once. Cuttings could be used as hay, biomass or wildflower seed.

The county council in Dorset has saved over £100,000 since 2014 by using cost-cutting practices which are wildflower friendly.  It expects to save £50,000 during the 2017-2018 year.

Burnley Borough Council is saying no to mowing and reckons it will save a lot of money by doing so.

Plantlife say that a YouGov Poll for Friends of the Earth and Buglife show that 81% of the public back the move for councils to help wild flowers.  Bees depend on them.  We need bees for our own wellbeing. 

So if you want to save our beautiful verges and wildflowers, which are vital for wildlife, please fly or crawl away to Plantlife and sign their petition.