Wild Grasses
All Things Rural offers a diverse range of wild grasses designed to enhance biodiversity and create natural landscapes. Perfect for meadows, restoration projects, and wildlife habitats, our wild grasses provide essential cover and food for wildlife while thriving in various soil and environmental conditions.
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Sowing rate: 20kg/acre
Annual Meadowgrass
Poa annua
Annual Meadowgrass is a coarse, low-growing annual grass with light green leaf blades that spread horizontally from a central point. It has shallow, fibrous roots that help stabilise soil and reduce erosion, making it useful for ground cover. This grass also provides a valuable food source for birds like finches and sparrows, as well as small mammals such as mice and voles.
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Sowing rate: 20kg/acre
Crested Hair Grass
Koeleria macrantha
Crested Hairgrass is a compact, tufted perennial grass that thrives in dry, chalky, and limestone grasslands. Its slow growth makes it ideal for green roofs, as it can withstand nutrient stress and drought, while its deep roots help stabilise the soil and reduce erosion. The seeds provide food for birds and small animals, while also offering a habitat for these creatures.
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Sowing rate: 16kg/acre
Quaking Grass
Briza media
Quaking Grass is a distinctive perennial species known for its pendulous, heart-shaped purple and green flower heads held in loose clusters on fine stems. Slow-growing and non-competitive, it makes an ideal companion grass for wildflowers and can tolerate stress, making it suitable for green roofs. Preferring chalky soils, Quaking Grass thrives when sown in autumn and provides an excellent food source for birds like Yellow Hammers, Linnets, Green Finches, and House Sparrows.
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Sowing rate: 54kg/acre
Supina Bluegrass
Poa Supina Mix Coated
Supina Bluegrass is a low-growing, perennial grass that thrives in shaded areas and tolerates a variety of soil types. It forms a dense, carpet-like mat that helps suppress weeds while providing excellent ground cover.
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Sowing rate: 20kg/acre
Tufted Hairgrass
Deschampsia cespitosa
Tufted Hairgrass is a perennial species commonly found in various types of grassland, particularly in poorly drained soil. It features dark green, deeply grooved leaves, with one side of the leaf blade being sharp and the other smooth. This grass serves as a host plant for the Ringlet butterfly, as well as the Black Rustic, Cloaked Minor, and Common Rustic moths.
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Sowing rate: 20kg/acre
Wood Meadowgrass
Poa nemoralis
Wood Meadowgrass is a slow-growing perennial grass typically found in hedgerows, woodland glades, and semi-shaded areas. It is a tuft-forming species with fine, flat leaves and does not tolerate close mowing or heavy wear. This grass provides valuable habitat and nesting sites for small mammals and ground-nesting birds.
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Sowing rate: 12kg/acre
Bermudagrass
Cynodon dactylon
Bermuda Grass is a highly resilient and tough grass, known for its heat and drought tolerance, making it ideal for areas with heavy use. It establishes quickly and grows aggressively, providing strong coverage even in challenging conditions.
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Sowing rate: 9kg/acre
Meadow Brome
Bromus commutatus
Meadow Brome is a loosely tufted annual or biennial species that thrives in a variety of soil types. With its deep root system, it plays an important role in stabilising the soil.
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Sowing rate: 4kg/acre
Saltmarsh Grass
Puccinellia maritima
Saltmarsh Grass is a hardy perennial found around estuaries, tidal marshes, mud flats, and along the coast, thriving in saline conditions.
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Sowing rate: 8kg/acre
Sweet Vernal Grass
Anthoxanthum odoratum
Sweet Vernal Grass is a common perennial grass with short, broad flat leaves and cylindrical flower spikes on stiff stems. One of the earliest grasses to grow in spring, it is adaptable to a wide range of habitats and contains coumarin, which gives hay a sweet smell when cut. Not aggressive, it makes an excellent companion grass for wildflowers and is eaten by wildlife, including deer, rabbits, and birds, while providing habitat for birds and small animals.
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Sowing rate: 6kg/acre
Upright Brome
Bromus erectus
Upright Brome is a densely tufted perennial that features upright, stiff stems and branching flower heads. While it is slow to establish from seed, once it becomes established, it can become dominant if left unmanaged. This grass provides a habitat for various insects, including butterflies, crickets, and grasshoppers, and is also grazed by deer.
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Sowing rate: 8kg/acre
Yellow Oatgrass
Trisetum flavescens
Yellow Oatgrass, also known as Golden Oatgrass, is a perennial grass that thrives on well-drained, neutral to calcareous soils. It has flat, narrow, soft leaves and loosely tufted, finely branched heads that turn yellow as the seeds ripen. Highly palatable to livestock, it provides cover and food for insects, birds, and mammals, with its seeds being eaten by songbirds and providing good habitat for moths.
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Sowing rate: 10kg/acre
Crested Dogstail
Cynosurus cristatus
Crested Dogstail is a compact, tufted perennial grass that thrives in many soil types but avoids acidic and calcareous soils. It is a non-aggressive species, making it an excellent companion for wildflowers and adding interest to meadows with its distinctive seed heads. While it has good cold tolerance, it struggles in waterlogged or drought-prone conditions and serves as a food plant for the caterpillars of several butterfly species.
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Sowing rate: 8kg/acre
Meadow Foxtail
Alopecurus pratensis
Meadow Foxtail is a tufted perennial grass that produces long, cylindrical flower heads resembling a fox's tail. It is highly nutritious and palatable to livestock, making it one of the earliest grasses to grow in spring. While it prefers moist soils, it doesn't tolerate waterlogged areas well and provides an important food source and habitat for various invertebrates, including the caterpillars of the Essex Skipper Butterfly.
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Sowing rate: 8kg/acre
Small Timothy
Phleum bertolonii
Small Timothy, also known as Smaller Catstail, is a perennial grass species found in grass downlands, pastures, roadsides, and waste areas across a variety of soil types in the UK. It is shorter and less dominant than Timothy, making it highly palatable. The seeds are eaten by birds and small animals, and it also attracts bees and other pollinators.
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Sowing rate: 4kg/acre
Tall Oatgrass
Arrhenatherum elatius
Tall Oatgrass, also known as False Oatgrass, is a fast-growing tufted perennial commonly found in habitats such as roadsides, banks, rough grassland, hedgerows, and waste ground. With oat-like spikelets on slender stems, it has a deep rooting system that allows it to access moisture and minerals at greater depths, making it drought-tolerant. If not managed, it can become dominant, but it provides shelter and nesting sites for Field Voles.
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Sowing rate: 20kg/acre
Wavy Hairgrass
Deschampsia flexuosa
Wavy Hairgrass, also known as Crinkled Hairgrass, is a slow-growing, tuft-forming perennial that thrives in free-draining, acidic soils while avoiding chalk and limestone. It has fine, wiry leaves and produces silvery, purple flower heads from June to August. This resilient species copes well with stressed conditions and provides cover and nesting material for small mammals and insects, as well as serving as a food plant for the caterpillars of the Wall Brown Butterfly.
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Sowing rate: 3kg/acre
Yorkshire Fog
Holcus lanatus
Yorkshire Fog is a perennial grass species that is widely distributed across the British Isles, known for its dense tufts and grey-green, soft, and hairy leaves. The flower heads form in single spikelets and are purple in color, adding to its visual appeal. Though unpalatable to livestock, it attracts butterflies such as the Marbled White, Small Skipper, Speckled Wood, and Wall, while providing food for the caterpillars of the Small Skipper and Essex Skipper butterflies, and grazing for rabbits.
