The re-establishment of grassland vegetation in high elevations is challenging due to harsh climate, a short vegetation period and shallow, nutrient-poor soils. Moreover, environmental conditions differ largely between sites and require site-adapted restoration measures. Seed mixtures allow for a flexible addition of adapted plant species at appropriate dates during the short vegetation period, alone or in combination with transplanted turf or seedlings. We have reviewed seed mixtures proposed for the subalpine and alpine zones of the Alps. The 24 identified seed mixtures were often built around a common set of dominant species complemented by a large diversity of additional plant species (188 species). A subset of eight mixtures was tested in a randomised experiment at a high-elevation site. Despite considerable overlap in the core composition of the mixtures, large differences in yield of the first cut and the composition of the sward were found. This highlights the need to test seed mixtures for high-elevation restoration in the field.
