Angela Hewitt, of Isle of Wight project Naturezones Wildlife Education Trust, which has had a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
A WILDLIFE education project has received a £51,900 Heritage Lottery Fund grant to plant 10,000 wildflowers across the Isle of Wight.
The cash has been awarded to the Blackwater-based Naturezones Wildlife Education Trust for its new 'plant native' project, aimed at helping schoolchildren and community groups create wildflower areas of native plant species within their communities.
Naturezones will help groups by offering expert help and education about the importance of maintaining the Island's native plant species, and by supplying wildflower plants grown by volunteers and Isle of Wight College students.
Community groups including churches, community associations, parish councils and schools will be encouraged to take part.
Project manager Angela Hewitt said in a statement today (Tuesday): "When doing a previous 'meadow makers' project we found it virtually impossible to obtain wildflower plants and seeds of a local provenance.
"We realised there was a need to set up a system to provide communities with native species of plants.
"A significant part of this project is to support vulnerable young people and adults who need extra support to get them back into the community and in many cases to regain confidence to get back to work."
It is hoped 10,000 wildflower plants will be planted as part of the project.
Angela said: "We feel privileged to be given this grant to continue developing the message about the importance of looking after and developing our wildlife habitats, with wildflower meadows being our specialty and involving a large part of the community at the same time."
For further information about Naturezones, and how to get involved in the project, visit www.naturezones.org.uk
Reporter: emilyp@iwcpmail.co.uk