PUTTING NATIVE WILDFLOWERS BACK WHERE THEY BELONG
We build region-matched seed kits and provenance maps so anyone in the UK can turn a mown lawn into a working meadow. No guesswork, no generic mixes, just the right seeds for the right soil in the right part of the country.
Why We Exist
The UK has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows since the 1930s. That number is hard to get your head around, but the effect is pretty visible: fewer bees on the lavender, fewer butterflies across the back fence, fewer of those scruffy, beautiful patches of knapweed and ox-eye daisy that used to line every country lane.
Lawns cover a huge area of Britain. Private gardens alone account for roughly 400,000 hectares. Most of that is closely mown ryegrass, which is essentially a green desert for pollinators. The thing is, converting even a small patch of lawn into a native meadow makes a measurable difference to local insect populations. Multiply that across enough gardens and you start to reconnect fragmented habitats at a landscape scale.
That is the idea behind Unmow. We make it straightforward for ordinary gardeners to do something that actually matters, without needing a botany degree or a countryside estate to do it on.
How Our Kits Work
Every Unmow kit starts with your postcode. The UK is not one landscape, it is dozens. Chalk downland in Hampshire wants completely different species to acidic heath in Norfolk or upland hay meadow in the Pennines. A generic "wildflower mix" from a garden centre ignores all of that, which is why so many of them fail or produce a single season of cornfield annuals before dying out.
We divide the country into provenance zones based on soil type, rainfall, altitude and historic plant distribution. Each kit contains a seed mix sourced from suppliers working within those zones, so the genetics match what would have grown there naturally. The fold-out regional map that ships with every kit shows which zone the seed comes from and what species to expect as your meadow establishes.
Kits also include a preparation guide that walks through scarifying existing turf, timing the sow to your local climate, and managing the patch through its first year. We keep the instructions plain because the process itself is not complicated, it just needs to be done at the right time in the right order.
Regional Accuracy
We never sell a one-size-fits-all mix. Every seed blend is matched to a specific provenance zone of the UK, because what thrives in Kent will struggle in Cumbria and vice versa.
Native Provenance Only
All our seed is sourced from British provenance suppliers. No continental imports, no ornamental cultivars. These are the species that co-evolved with British pollinators over thousands of years.
Accessible to Everyone
You do not need land or expertise. A front garden, a grass verge, a patch behind the shed. Our kits are scaled and written for people who have never sown wildflower seed before.
Transparent Sourcing
The provenance map in every kit shows exactly where the seed was collected. We think buyers have a right to know what they are putting in the ground and where it came from.
Our Approach to Rewilding
Rewilding can sound like something that happens on large estates or nature reserves. We think of it differently. For us, rewilding starts with the decision to stop mowing and start growing. It is a practical choice that any householder can make, and it produces real ecological results within a single growing season.
We focus on perennial meadow species rather than the showy annual cornfield mixes you see in a lot of "wildflower" products. Annuals give a bright display in year one and then vanish. Perennial meadows take longer to peak but they build year on year, developing a stable plant community that supports a wider range of insects and provides reliable forage season after season.
We also include yellow rattle in several of our kits. It is a native hemiparasite that weakens vigorous grasses by tapping into their root systems, which opens up space for slower-growing wildflower seedlings. It is one of the most effective tools for converting established lawns without resorting to herbicide or full turf removal.
Beyond the Kits
Seed kits are what we are known for, but they are not the whole picture. We also run seasonal coaching sessions for gardeners who want hands-on guidance through their first year of meadow management. These are one-to-one calls where we look at your specific site, your soil, and your local conditions and walk you through what to do next.
Our monthly community webinars cover seasonal tasks, share results from rewilders across the UK, and give people a space to ask questions and swap notes. We also host and speak at rewilding conferences in England, Scotland and Wales, which are open to anyone interested in seeing established meadows in person and meeting other people doing the same thing.
If you are planning a larger project, or working across multiple sites, the Cartographic Provenance Atlas Set gives you a reference library of 12 regional maps covering all four UK nations, with soil pH, rainfall and provenance zone overlays for accurate mix selection.