Planting The Cornfield Project

Last Monday over 400 wildflower plug plants were put in place by children from Ballysally Nursery, and by adults involved with Base Coleraine, as the £135,000 wildflower project gets into gear.

The planting event was hosted by Grow Wild and The Conservation Volunteers to bring new groups of volunteers from Coleraine to the area.

The Ballysally Nursery young children had grown their own wildflowers from seed planted earlier in the spring - and these were brought along and planted by the children with help from their parents.

The children, parents and staff of the nursery were very proud of their little plants and will enjoy coming back to see them grow into beautiful wildflowers.

Base Coleraine, a group of active adults with learning disabilities, brought an energy and warmth to the site – as well as doing loads of valuable work - by planting and weeding much of the area. They hope to be able to have regular activities at The Cornfield Project for both their staff and clients to become involved.

The planted wildflowers will add more colour to the areas sown earlier in the spring and will ultimately be part of stunning wildflower meadows to brighten the whole of Coleraine.

The Cornfield Project will see an area between Millburn and Ballysally estates transformed into a beautiful woodland wildflower area that will bring the two communities together to be enjoyed by everyone.

“It was confirmed as Northern Ireland’s flagship Grow Wild initiative after a public vote last autumn.

Supported by the Big Lottery Fund and led by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Grow Wild inspires communities, friends, neighbours and individuals across the UK to come together to transform local spaces, by sowing, growing and enjoying native wild flowers.

Stéphanie Baine from Grow Wild was at the planting day in the Cornfield Project. She said, “We are really excited to be see all sectors of the community get involved with The Cornfield Project.

“This shows why this was put forward as the Grow Wild Northern Irish flagship. We hope that the all the people involved will enjoy the flowers that appear from their hard work and will support The Cornfield Project to get the whole community enjoying the native wildflowers and trees we have here.”

The Project recently held a wildflower-themed Royal party to makr the Queen’s 90th birthday. The event was a collaboration between community groups Building Ballysally Together, Millburn Community Association and Focus on Family.