Glasgow City Council to plant one million flower bulbs alongside Great Western Road

A million flower bulbs are set to be planted alongside one of Glasgow’s busiest roads.

The flowers will run for more than two miles alongside a stretch of the Great Western Road.

The nectar rich bulbs are to be planted this autumn on the central reservation over a 3.3 kilometres stretch between Duntreath Avenue in Drumchapel to Anniesland Cross, and will flower in the spring and summer.

Next year around 10,000 metres squared of wildflower seeds will be sown along the same stretch by Glasgow City Council.

Buchanan Bus Station is also due to have bulbs planted this autumn.

The scheme is part of the £1.5m citywide Green Connectors and Wildflower Action Plan, which aims to create more habitat for nature.

Trees, bulbs, wildflowers and wetland plants are to be added as part of the scheme.

There will also be less grass cutting in certain areas and a reduced spraying of weedkiller.

The council will “manage” large areas of meadow grass in Elder Park, Queens Park and Kings Park with a cut once or twice a year.

A council report said: “Species-rich grassland supports a variety of bird, mammal and invertebrate species in Glasgow, including butterflies, moths and other pollinators, with sensitive management providing them with food and shelter.

“This is vital, given that 11% of species in Scotland are at risk of extinction.”

There will be 60 hectares of uncut grassland “unsuitable” for the chop, which includes steep slopes, wet ground and damage to tree trunks.

The council’s net zero and climate progress monitoring city policy committee will be given an update on the nature plans next week.

Areas which will continue to be cut up up to seven times a year include sports pitches, high profile lawns, areas for picnics, recreation and children’s play within parks.

A pilot of the Green Connectors project was previously rolled out in September 2021 in Greater Pollok and Cardonald, which saw 165 standard trees planted along with 6,000 tree and shrub saplings and two kilometres of hedges.