Important Freshwater Areas Important Freshwater Landscapes

GroWet

Habitat Project Species Project

Saving rare and endangered wetland plants

Local people are helping us to save historic wetland and freshwater habitats by growing rare wetland plants at home, at school and in community centres.

GroWet Team

Working together to conserve historic wetlands and freshwater wildlife

Research shows that in the lowlands, wetland plant diversity is declining at approximately 1% every year. These declines are even more severe for endangered and uncommon species.

GroWet gives these plants a helping hand, enabling them to reach good sites, increasing their abundance and distribution, and most importantly reducing their risk of extinction.

GroWet is running in Buckinghamshire and in Irfon catchment in mid-Wales.

GroWet volunteers

We’re bringing together local communities, schools, horticulturalists and other project partners to:

1 Propagate some of the UK's most endangered wetland plants

including species like Common Cotton-grass, Ragged-robin and Greater Water-parsnip, which were once plentiful but are now in rapid decline.

2 Educate and engage with people

including people living in urban areas with little access to nature, to grow endangered wetland plants at home.

3 Introduce the propagated plants to high quality freshwater and wetland habitats

where they would once have been plentiful and where we believe they can thrive again.

GroWet for Buckinghamshire schools and community groups

Schools and community groups in Buckinghamshire can now help to stop the ongoing decline of Buckinghamshire’s rare wetland plants by growing on seeds and seedlings into mature plants ready to go back into the wild. This offers a hands-on approach to learning about plant life, ecology and freshwater environments, while taking part in active conservation work.

We are now inviting schools to register their interest. Activities are suitable for ages five upwards, and can be tailored depending number of students, year group and available timescales.

The Rothschild Foundation has funded GroWet in Buckinghamshire. We are working closely with Waddesdon Estate who have kindly lent us space in their greenhouse to grow and propagate our GroWet plants.

To get involved, contact Lizzie Every
Two boys wearing white school shirts, standing in a garden holding potted plants.

GroWet Greenhouse Volunteering

We are looking for people to come and help at our GroWet greenhouses in Cutteslowe, Oxford, and Waddesdon Estate, Buckinghamshire.

This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about rare and endangered wetland plants and freshwater ecology while getting hands-on experience in greenhouse activities and plant conservation.

Whether you’re an experienced gardener or just keen to get involved, your help will make a difference to freshwater wildlife. Meet like-minded individuals, gain valuable skills and enjoy the satisfaction of having a positive impact on your local habitats.

We are currently taking applications for Cutteslowe greenhouse volunteers and will be taking applications for Waddesdon soon.

Sign up to be part of our GroWet Cutteslowe volunteer team
silly greenhouse pic

GroWet in the Irfon catchment

GroWet is expanding into the River Irfon catchment in mid-Wales as part of our River Irfon Catchment Project, which is funded by the Nature Networks Programme and delivered by the Heritage Fund, on behalf of the Welsh Government.

We believe it is important for people to feel connected to nature and we want to help facilitate this connection for people that may have difficulty accessing green spaces. For this reason, GroWet in the Irfon Catchment is working with Disabled Adult Day Centres across the catchment and the wider Powys area to bring nature to people who may otherwise not have the chance to access it.

We’ve already had some wonderful feedback informing us of how those involved have found the experience of growing wetland plants to be highly enjoyable and rewarding. We are hoping to collect most of the plants once established, to replant them in the wetlands we have created through our River Irfon Catchment Project.

Individuals and community groups can sign up by e-mailing Nerys Mellor
Kirsty Allwood (River Irfon Habitat and Species Officer) handing out seed packs to two volunteers.

About the GroWet plants

Here are the wetland plants we’re working on during the project. Follow the links to learn about each species’ ecology and propagation.

Frog bit

Frogbit
Hydrocharis morsus-ranae

Find out more
water-parsnip

Greater Water-parsnip
Sium latifolium

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Ragged Robin

Ragged-robin
Silene flos-cuculi

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Water-violet

Water-violet
Hottonia palustris

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Tubular water dropwort

Tubular Water-dropwort
Oenanthe fistulosa

Find out more