Also, and as a preamble to the XVIII Andalusian Agricultural Biodiversity Fair, Fleurs Locales was also in the Royal Botanical Garden of Córdoba, on October 16, and participated in the III Seed Exchange Meeting.

In addition, Semillas Silvestres was also invited by Oleocampo, with the Fleurs Locales project in the “New challenges in traditional olive growing” conferences. Specifically, the paper “Herbaceous roofs of wild species for the Andalusian olive grove: types, installation and management” was presented on October 20.

‘Fleurs Locales’ also took part in two days of dissemination, one in the City of Zaragoza held on October 27 called “Technical instruction gardening with sustainability criteria” and another in Salamanca, on October 29, which was attended by an invitation from the Asprodes association (Arca Grupo).

La entrada Semillas Silvestres takes ‘Fleurs Locales’ on a thematic route through Spain se publicó primero en Fleurs Locales.

Their participation is fundamental for the project’s development and, above all, for achieving its ambitious final objectives, i.e. the elaboration, experimentation and capitalization of protocols and technical itineraries for the implementation of mixtures of native plants adapted to Mediterranean environments; the structuring of value chains for the restoration of biodiversity through indigenous plants, involving all socio-economic operators from producer to buyer, and the support of space managers and territorial managers, in particular local public authorities at the national level, in the implementation of territorially agreed action plans.

La entrada Meetings with associated beneficiaries continue: the Spanish example se publicó primero en Fleurs Locales.

But a project like this also requires raising awareness of the importance of using native seeds to restore degraded spaces wherever possible. Social media is therefore useful because it allows local issues to have a greater impact, to cross borders and become global. Moreover, it is one of the most important platforms today, not only for its ability to quickly reach a large audience, but for the easy accessibility for any person or entity.

The work carried out by the Conservatoire d’espaces naturels d’Occitanie on platforms such as Twitter or Facebook with ‘Fleurs Locales’ is a good example of this: they use multimedia material to describe varied activities directly from the field. You can consult their publications at this link.

La entrada Using social media to promote ‘Fleurs Locales’ se publicó primero en Fleurs Locales.

For three days, local ‘Fleurs’ professionals learned from HEPIA’s experience in selecting, planting and maintaining native seeds. The lessons learned were diverse, but among them were the importance of shared traceability in value chains, and having a shared methodology in the chain ranging, from harvesting to the sale of seeds.

In addition, the trip strengthened the commitment of ‘Fleurs Locales’ to work with large projects that ensure quantity and variety are available for small buyers.

The main conclusion is that the trip was a reminder to continue working with patience, because results are not immediate. In fact, the different technical working groups of ‘Fleurs Locales’ have integrated some of what they have learned into their practice, such as introducing species selection criteria based on restoration objectives and the need to include species that help non-botanical objectives.

How to generate added value
One of ‘Fleurs Locales’ great challenges is to bring the added value of these native seeds to market, to recover degraded spaces. The advice given by HEPIA includes the creation or support of joint brands and shared norms to unify efforts and criteria throughout the value chain, as well as to create alliances with social entities, as the consumer better identifies the resultant social benefits. Our Swiss colleagues, for example, collaborate in the production of indigenous seeds with a labour integration organization for vulnerable groups.

La entrada Learning from example: the Fleurs Locales team travels to Switzerland se publicó primero en Fleurs Locales.

Therefore, after months of work, an initial document has been published in four languages ​​(Spanish, French, English and Portuguese) with the results of the literature review on indigenous species suitable for Mediterranean agroecosystems. In this way, the seeds available in the market have been identified and the most promising species have been selected according to the specifications of the restoration in each place.

To contextualize the project, an important consensus was the following definition of ‘indigenous’ seeds as opposed to ‘local’ or ‘native’ ones:

Indigenous seeds are those used in a restoration project as “the reproductive material from indigenous flora that is collected as close as possible to the intervention area and that maintains the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of the wild populations of the zone”. In this sense, the document states that “indigenous is not synonymous with native, as some species may be native to an area, but also show characteristics selected by people or features of other biogeographic areas.” Finally, he explains that “native is not synonymous with local, as our landscapes are home to a significant number of introduced species from other biogeographic areas.”

La entrada ‘Fleurs Locales’ publishes its “Guidelines for restoration with indigenous seeds” se publicó primero en Fleurs Locales.

“As a rancher, what interests me is the recovery of grazing areas. Following the abandonment of human activities, scrublands are being closed, leading to a depletion of biodiversity and a high risk of fire in the southern French Mediterranean,” he explains, insisting on the need to understand that these are long-term projects.

“If we open the scrubland, but then do nothing, in 5 years they will be colonized naturally by woody plants and some vegetation that has no nutritional interest for the animals. In order for the scrubland to be attractive again, it is necessary to open it, maintain its diversity by planting suitable plant materials, which will recreate interest, restore the possibility of carrying out activities (as was the case before) and keep them open.

Vegetation cover in agriculture

For Christophe, the creation of mixtures of native plants is also important for agriculture. “Some nearby winemakers have not fully explored the challenge of vegetation cover. Near my farm there are dwarf clovers that could multiply and would be interesting because they are small (5/6 cm) and would not compete so much with crops. There are also other possible interests for the native plants, in particular the landscaping at the level of the municipalities, for example: to have species more adapted to the Mediterranean means in the roundabouts, or the restoration of quarries, to re-green but with plants able to settle down to long-term and withstand extreme pedoclimatic conditions)”.

The French rancher gives symbolic examples, closely linked to his land and dependent on the complicity of citizens: “Here next door is the Filippi nursery, very powerful. They sell plants for dry gardens; they even sell euphorbias. They make their customers aware of the importance of valuing local plants. It’s important to involve citizens in these challenges as well.”

La entrada “As a farmer, what interests me is the recovery of grazing areas” se publicó primero en Fleurs Locales.

On this special night – held for the tenth consecutive year and at the same time as in 371 other European cities – the ‘Fleurs’ project had a specific space to recover degraded spaces thanks to the use of indigenous seeds.

In the 2021 edition, the program was complemented with 800 activities, some of which can be enjoyed directly via the web. The goals are to bring science and researchers closer to the public, to demonstrate in a practical and playful way the relationship between research and everyday life, and to disseminate scientific studies.

La entrada Fleurs Locales at the European Researchers’ Night se publicó primero en Fleurs Locales.

At this time of autumn, sowing has already taken place, following a careful process of selecting the most suitable seeds (and mixtures of seeds) for each place. Here you can find the map of the pilot farms participating in ‘Fleurs Locales’. These pilot projects will be the focus of research which aims to understand in each case the limitations and successes of the processes so that, based on common working methods, we can face specific local problems and draw common conclusions in the recovery of degraded spaces with native flowers.

La entrada Plantations start on the various pilot farms se publicó primero en Fleurs Locales.

This is the highest-profile example, but not the only one. The other partners have also seen their work reflected in various media such as the Innovaspain portal in Spain, which talks about the project here.

La entrada Fleurs Locales in Agrotec, a reference magazine in Portugal se publicó primero en Fleurs Locales.

The process continues with processing and cleaning: the seeds sometimes come with fruits or parts that we do not want. They must be separated for conservation and use. At Fleurs Locales, cleaning is usually manual or with simple mechanisms such as column sieve systems or blowers.

Finally, storage must be done with seeds with a very low moisture content, and ensuring traceability with well-labelled lots (date, place and species). We will use this material in the fall or spring, depending on the area, or we may save it for later use.

The land that we are going to sow in Fleurs Locales is very varied and ranges from agricultural spaces to civil works or abandoned urban areas. Success will be when native seeds revive those degraded spaces and turn them into living spaces that offer ecosystems and recovered biodiversity.

La entrada Going out to the field to collect seeds. the origin of Fleurs Locales se publicó primero en Fleurs Locales.