Plans Grow for Johnstown's Sunflower Trail

Nothing represents summer more than seeing these iconic flowers in bloom. When they shine we stop, we take notice, and their presence brightens up our day.

To spread some happiness the Johnstown Tidy Towns (JTT) volunteers aim to brighten up our neighbourhood walks with a sunflower trail. Just like their tulip and daffodil displays, planted last Autumn, brought splashes of spring colour we can now expect to see yellow, red and orange sunflowers erupt in colour later this summer.

Their recently proposed trail is rapidly gaining momentum. 15 display sites along the route are already confirmed and more are being considered. The organisers are delighted with the positive feedback from community representatives, so much so that they quickly had to expand their initial plans.

"We started off aiming to create 8 sunflower displays but it's quickly grown to potentially 28 sites along an 8km trail."

Dave Hewitt, JTT Secretary

"The response has been fantastic with interest from individuals, Residents Associations, Meath County Council, local businesses, the IDA, and the local schools all keen to get involved and to bring about something positive for the community."

"It's as if everyone is very keen to spend this summer outside!"

Dave Hewitt, JTT Secretary

With the exception of the steps at Spire View you could also cycle your bike along the Sunflower Trail. The Navan Cycling Initiative Group commented that they have a practical solution that will help cyclists at steps like these and that they intend to propose a solution to the Council at their next meeting.

"We changed the proposed route a few times. We had envisaged having several sites inside the IDA park but since their gates are closed on weekends, just when most families are out walking, we needed to rethink that idea. Not every location has avoided the use of weedkiller spray which means they couldn't be included either. The Millbrook Gap was also another route option that we considered but we thought that it might be too disruptive to those residents to have lots of people coming down their road. Even though it is very popular with ramblers the Athlumney Riverside trail is a protected site and it didn't feature in our plans since we can't upset their ecosystem."

"We now think that we've come up with a route that incorporates as much of the Johnstown neighbourhood as possible and we're delighted to have residents and businesses eager to engage with us."

Peter Heylin, JTT Deputy Secretary

The Bee Story

Sown in May, Sunflowers usually bloom in August and can potentially last until December. They create big displays with long-lasting sources of pollen for insects like bees, they are very easy to grow and they're very appealing, but there is more behind this trail.

"The idea for a sunflower trail comes from wanting to create 'Bee Corridors' which is part of the National Pollinator Plan for biodiversity. Here we're using sunflowers to tempt and encourage people to follow a walking trail. In a similar way, pollinator insects like bees are attracted to these flowers for their pollen and will fly along the route following the food. The trail is really as much for us as it is for them."

"To involve more residents in the project, and to fill in the gaps between displays, we aim to distribute Sunflower plants to the houses along the route. Hopefully, we'll encourage them to grow them in their front gardens and complete the 'Bee Corridors'. People following the route can enjoy discovering these and the bees can follow the 'breadcrumb trail'."

Alan Lawes, JTT Chairperson

No Plastic Pots

100's of seeds were collected and saved from last year's 17 'parent plants' at the Athlumeny Hall wall. By buying a few new seed varieties there is no shortage of potential sunflowers for the summer display. After calculating that they needed over 500 plants the JTT group set about making biodegradable pots from old newspapers.

"There was no chance that we could afford to buy 500 plant pots, and with Covid concerns and time pressure to germinate the seeds we couldn't simply ask the public to donate what they had spare."

"The newspaper pot solution I saw recently on the online Meath County Council Sustainable Gardening Workshop. There Aoife Munn, the host, demonstrated how quick and simple it was and it made perfect sense - it's free, it's reuse and it's biodegradable. Being able to plant the seedling, within its pot, directly into the soil is going to be so much quicker when you're dealing with hundreds of plants. Hopefully Mother Nature will take care of everything else."

Robin Marshall, JTT Treasurer

Water Conservation

All plants need water and if this summer is anything like the past 2 years there'll be a drought. Since there is no nearby public taps the portable rainwater harvester butt, built for the St Martha's Bridge flower baskets, will be put to good use around Johnstown. Each display site that is within reach of homes will have a volunteer family monitoring their wellbeing.

Closing the Loop.

Few projects plan from the outset to create zero waste but this one comes very close. Using last year's sunflower seeds and recycling newspaper to make plant pots is a great start. After flowering and drying the sunflower heads the seeds will be harvested and saved for next year's displays and to be shared with the wild birds. The plant stems will become compost material ready for next year's planting projects. The bamboo support poles and the recycled watering bottles will be saved for reuse next year.

Avoid : Reduce : Reuse : Recycle

Notice What We Have

"We are all drawn to the idea of seeing urban wildflower meadows and flowering street verges, there is something magical and romantic about them. Visitors remark that we have a lot of grass lawns in Johnstown and one day they may change this to better support biodiversity and offer us a more colourful vibrant landscape. In the meantime we need to discover if we do actually have many local bees, we need to identify if we have natural sources of food, water, and shelter for them to be attracted to Johnstown. We can only do this by recording and mapping our trees, hedgerows, water sources, nesting sites, and of course the most important thing that we need to record is actual sightings of bees!"

"Once we have a better understanding of our neighbourhood we can then make plans to enhance it and develop 'corridors' of nectar through our planting."

Robin Marshall, JTT Treasurer

Taking the Sunflower Trail Even Further

The Environmental Conservation Group Wild About Navan has expressed an interest in taking this trail beyond Johnstown into the larger Navan neighbourhood. Keep an eye on their social media pages to see if this takes off in the same way as it has within Johnstown.