For the third year in a row, the successful project of sowing flowery meadows on selected areas of communication greenery continues in Prague 4. There will be 15 such areas this year, and the fields will occupy almost 4500 square meters. The first flowery meadow appeared in Prague 4 in 2020 in the central strip of Novodvorská Street from OC Plaza to Vavřenova Street. According to a press release, five more locations were added the following year, four more last year, and another five this year.
Thus, this year’s number of such areas has risen to 15. The project cost the city council 750,000 crowns. “Prague 4 is thus one of the leading cities in the entire Czech Republic and is an unambiguous leader in this respect in Prague,” summarized the course of the project to date by the Prague 4 City Councilor for the EnvironmEnvironmenttiator of the project, Tomáš Hrdinka (ANO 2011).
The brand new flowery meadows will be sown in Milevská, Hvězdova, U Křížku, Bělčická, in Antonín Engel Park in front of the Podolí waterworks and at the entrance from Modřanská to Barrandov Bridge. They will complement the existing ones in Novodvorská, 5. května, Antala Staška, Jeremenkova, Modřanská, Vídeňská, Michelská, Hlavní, and Pujmanové. The flowery meadow in Kloboučnická Street from last year will be replaced due to replacement planting in this location with an area in the nearby U Křížku Street.
According to information from the PinCity platform, the sowing was preceded by complicated negotiations over the loan of suitable land from the Technical Road Administration (TSK). The motive was to enhance not only the aesthetics of the environmEnvironmento the species diversity of insects, especially butterflies and bumblebees. “In addition to its aesthetic function, blooming meadows also perform an important function as a food source for bees and other insects, especially in the middle and at the end of summer when floral food is already scarce,” warned Tomáš Hrdinka.
The fields of flowers typically bloom from July to September and thus bloom for more than three months. Unique mixes of large-flowered annuals, which change color during flowering, are responsible for this. “We primarily use the so-called Strakonice mix, which is mixed from 15 species of annuals that change color during the summer and autumn. This is achieved by selecting plants whose time and length of flowering are not uniform. Cornflowers, large-flowered flax, sunflowers, beauties, wild basil, and many others mainly represent them. Flowery meadows are a home and refuge for insects. They find a food source here and safety,” added Councilor Hrdinka.
According to his words, the city district also intends to continue expanding next year. The goal is to occupy more than one hectare of otherwise unused land with flowery meadows. The town hall is also accepting tips for other suitable locations. “We create meadows not only for insects but primarily for people, citizens, to enjoy them, hence the variety. They are still artificially planted meadows so that we can afford them in this respect, and it is still annuals suitable for our latitudes. However, for example, at Spořilov, a variably set mowing achieved a natural flowery meadow right before the monument, but it is not very visible. Hence the somewhat artificial variety,” specified the councilor.
Flower-filled meadows also appear, for example, in Prague 2. Last year, they decorated about 5,000 square meters. For example, in Havlíčkovy and Lumírové sady, in Folimanka, on Karlovské předmostí, or above Bělehradská Street.