Lee Bishop, Course Manager at Burnham Beeches Golf Club in South
Buckinghamshire, has said that Limagrain UK’s range of Colour Splash flower
mixtures have helped him to transform an unsightly area into a stunning display
of vibrant flowers – much to the delight of the members.
Situated in the Thames Valley in South Buckinghamshire, Burnham
Beeches measures 6,458 yards, has a Par 70 and offers a true and challenging
test of golf.
Founded in 1891, it is the oldest club in Buckinghamshire after it
was founded by a group of locals who called a public meeting in the village
school.
Over the years the course has gained a great reputation and has
been graced with players such as James Braid, J H Taylor and Harry Vardon who,
between them, won the British Open no less than 16 times, as well as other
golfing legends such as Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer.
Lee has been working at Burnham Beeches for an impressive 20 years
and has been the Course Manager for the last 10. Along with six other members
of staff Lee tends to the course, which is located in a beautiful setting on
the edge of the historic Burnham Beeches woodland and is framed by a large
number of mature trees.
Surrounded, mostly, by natural beauty there was however one
particular area of the course which Lee felt needed improving.
“There was a bit of a wasteland area around our nets and the
clubhouse directly overlooked it,” he says. “To be honest it was very scruffy
and it wasn’t a great view for our members. It definitely needed a makeover and
that is why we thought we would try the Colour Splash mixtures from Limagrain.”
Limagrain UK’s range of Colour Splash flower mixtures are used in
a broad range of landscape and amenity areas throughout the UK. The much loved
brand was first established over ten years ago where the development of the
mixtures were created in the beautiful county of Loir-et-Cher, in the centre of
France. With nine mixtures in the Colour Splash range there is a floral
arrangement for every requirement - whether it be a golf course, a local
authority green space or any other establishment that has an area which needs
brightening up.
For Burnham Beeches, Lee initially chose Aurora - a medium height
mixture which grows to around a half-metre tall. It contains Sunbow Zinnia and
Trianon Cosmos which provide more effective and long-lasting flowering. After
using this mixture for two years running and receiving huge praise from club
members, Lee decided to add the Festival mixture this year.
“The Aurora mixture was really successful and I wanted to enhance
the area with another mixture. I used the Festival seed this year because it
will add a bit more height and can be seen even more so from a distance. The
area is visible from quite a few areas on the golf course so it will be there
for everybody to see.
“The members absolutely love it and have been really supportive.
Once they saw the stunning array of flowers, and the potential it had, they
started pushing for us to do more areas - hence why we are going to do even
more areas with the Colour Splash next year.”
The Colour Splash range of mixtures are extremely easy to sow and
the resulting vigorous plants are more than capable of competing with weeds.
Their vigour is equally matched by robustness; resisting long periods of
drought. According to Lee they are also a low cost option for those wanting an
abundance of colour in fairly quick time.
“It is such a simple process. All I do is hire a rotorvator, use a
small bit of weed killer and that is it. The seed mixtures are not expensive
whatsoever - you get good, quick germination and I would encourage people to do
it.
“I’ve also introduced bees to the area and have installed a couple
of hives. There is a lot of press about bees and how scarce they are now so I
think it is a great thing to do. We’ve got information boards about the bees on
how we need to look after them and how the Colour Splash mixtures will help
protect and make them flourish.
“My decision in choosing the Colour Splash was both because of the
environmental benefits and the great aesthetics they provide - so if we can
give something back to nature at the same time as the course looking great,
then I think that is a job well done.”
