LAWN EVOLUTION

We receive many queries about the grass on our estates not being cut short enough or often enough and having too many “weeds” in them. Readers of my news items will know my thoughts on this but, practising what I preach, for a few years now I have been leaving what was a piece of traditional lawn to become a kind of cross between mown turf and a meadow. I am careful when I cut it but I don’t let the grass get above about 10cm tall. Although I love to see the native wild flowers in it, I wanted blooms for pollinators all year round, so I have been keen to naturalise bulbs in it whose floral displays are beautiful, arresting even, throughout the year to supplement the forbs which mainly flower in spring and summer. Bulbs and corms have turned out to be highly successful as you can see from the few photos below and there are some in flower almost the whole year, starting with the winter aconites in January and ending with the cyclamens that go through December. I have not managed to get orchids in it yet but I am hopeful because there are green-winged orchids in their hundreds out on the common land near-by. Here is a list of the bulbs that have naturalised successfully in or at the edge of the “lawn”:

Allium ursinum (ramsons)

Anemone nemorosa (wood anemone)

Chionodoxa forbesii and C. luciliae (glory of the snow)

Crocus speciosus (Autumn crocus)

Crocus vernus cultivars

Cyclamen coum

Cyclamen hederifolium

Eranthis hyemalis (winter aconite)

Galanthus nivalis (snowdrop)

Muscari neglectum (grape hyacinth)

Narcissus poeticus var. recurvus (pheasant’s eye)

Ornithogalum umbellatum (star-of-Bethlehem)

Puschkinia scilloides

Ranunculus ficaria (lesser celandine)

Scilla sibirica (have to stop grass choking it)

I am also going to put in some Colchicum autumnale (meadow saffron) which I have in another piece of occasionally mown grass and I might try some bluebells at the shady end, although they may colonise naturally from the wood close by. There are many others to try. 

From left to right below, top row first: Autumn crocuses, winter aconites with snowdrops and Cyclamen coum; grape hyacinths; Cyclamen hederifolium and lesser celandine; star-of-Bethlehem.

Betts Ecology works to keep grasslands species-rich with flowers for as long a season as possible. In urban green spaces, bulbs are a great way of adding flowers throughout the year for pollinators.

All photos by Dr C Betts © Betts Ecology