London Non-Profit Launches Campaign To Plant Millions Of Wildflowers

When you think of London, you likely picture a bustling urban landscape filled with people, buildings, cars, and perhaps the occasional green space sprinkled in. But non-profit Park City is working to get London declared a national park, advocating for the 8.3 million trees and 14,000 species of wildlife that call it home, Treehugger reports. Their new campaign is trying to expand the greenery; they want to plant nine million wildflowers, or one for every London resident.

They're currently running a fundraising campaign for #WildflowersForLondoners, and partnering with a company called Seedballs. Making seed balls, or "seed bombs," is a famous DIY tradition for spreading pollinating flowers in urban areas. For example, in an abandoned lot or in a backyard. Seedballs sells their own mix of clay, seeds, and chili pepper to deter pests, making it easier than ever to spread flowers on vacant property. Or your own property, if you have some.

They even have specific mixes for the kind of pollinators you want to attract. Not just bees, but bats, butterflies, and beetles are considered in their seed mix. They're also all composed of seeds native to the area.

It might seem like nine million is a high number, but each seed ball has the potential to produce 600 wildflowers. A five pound donation buys 20 seed balls. And for every seed ball purchased, the company will donate one to SeedBank For Schools, a segment of National Park City that is working with classrooms in London.

“By backing our campaign, you are helping us to show Londoners how easy it is to #getgrowing in our own neighborhoods and how, through small actions, over time we can transform our urban landscape into a beautiful city of colorful wildflowers returning every year,” writes National Park City in their campaign. You can grow your city into a park with just a ball of seeds.