J ames Hewetson-Brown comes from a Hampshire farming family that has been producing turf for three generations; his father David began growing soil-less lawn turf at the family's arable farm near Basingstoke in the early 1980s. In 2003, frustrated with the failure rates of conventional meadow seeding, James founded Wildflower Turf and developed the UK's first soil-less growing system for ready-made wildflower meadows — a technique that gave landscape professionals an established meadow on day one rather than three uncertain years later.
His turf has been used at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on multiple Gold Medal-winning gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and on the set for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. He teaches and lectures on meadow establishment, including at West Dean College.
His book How to Make a Wildflower Meadow sets out the field-tested methods behind the work — both his soil-less system and the more traditional seeding routes — for anyone hoping to make a meadow that actually persists.
