The importance of wildflowers and why lawns are dumb!

 

Pictured above: the common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuschii); image sourced from gardenersworld.com/plants/garden-identifier-to-british-wildflowers/

In my humble opinion, there is no such thing as a perfect lawn. In fact, I think it might be a very real contender for one of the dumbest things that humanity has ever cultivated. It serves no real purpose. Of course, a case could be made for creating a space in which sports are able to be played. But, beyond that, I cannot think why anyone would take pride in investing time, effort, and money into creating something that is essentially a dead monoculture; in a world where the UK has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows since the 1930s, it seems, to me, to make little sense!

Where does the love of lawns come from?

The love of lawns really is a love affair embedded in tradition. Whilst clearing land around castles may have once served the purpose of making the work of guards easier - easier to spot visitors (some being enemies) without obstacles - the cultivating of lawns purely for the sake of having them has always been a pointless endeavour.

The closely cut and maintained lawn became popular in seventeenth century England, and they were a status symbol of wealthy landowners. The "perfect lawns" were, essentially, a flag flown by the rich; a flag that said, "I own this land, and I can afford to spend money on growing nothing but this pointless plant." It was only the rich that could afford to have the lawns maintained.

And, still today, there are some for whom a nice lawn is something to take pride in, something that they compete with the neighbours over, and something that they look upon as though it is their own little kingdom. 

And, perhaps it is. I mean, it certainly isn't particularly welcoming to much else . . .

Quiet little monocultures

That patch outside your home, left to its own devices, will produce more than just grass. Leaving the mower in the shed will produce a far richer diversity of plant life, which in turn will benefit other life. Wildflowers will attract pollinators, taller and better coverage will provide spaces in which insects and small mammals can evade predators, and these benefits at the bottom of the food chain will benefit those further along. Plus, in my humble opinion, a patch outside with diverse plant life and flower heads is far more attractive and interesting a view than the uniform dullness of the mown lawn.

Humanity has been building and creating spaces to the exclusion of nature for too long. We are just now realising that we need to start including nature in the spaces that we occupy. 

I have had this conversation with a member of my own family. She wants a nice lawn. I have no idea why. She happily cut down the flowers that were growing up there this summer, and she invests in trying to improve her lawn. As part of a conversation, I told her about that statistic I mentioned earlier - the one about how much wildflower meadow space we have lost - and she responded with a shrug and telling me, "Well, I didn't do that." 

And, I fear, it is that attitude that the world is up against; "I didn't do anything, and I want mine". 

Can we compromise?

Unfortunately, I am not in a position where I have a lawn of my own that I can leave to become overgrown and spotted with wildflowers. But, I did have a pot and a pack of wildflower seeds. And now I have a pot and some young wildflowers. It's not much, and not even a drop of what we have lost, but I do what I can. And, I urge others to do the same. 

I can't wait until the flower heads open and I see pollinators and other bugs begin to visit. I don't think I would even begrudge a caterpillar or two! They need it more than I do, and I can always plant some more.

For those that do have a lawn outside, can I make a suggestion? Allow that lawn to be become a mini-meadow. If you want, plan out a path through the grass and flowers and mow along that route so that you can walk through and enjoy the life within. Personally, I think's that much more exciting and aesthetically pleasing than a flat lawn.

Picture shows a garden mini-meadow, complete with path mown through (image sourced from themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk)

However, if you're not quite ready to let go of the lawn yet, maybe you could just leave the edges uncut. If you leave the borders, about the width of a footpath ought to be enough, you are still creating space for life. That is space where animals can find food and evade predation.

The best part about this conservation effort? It asks that you do less work, not more! How often do you get to feel the satisfaction of having contributed something to the world by not doing a chore?!

In conclusion . . .

When I visit my parents house in the countryside, I often go upstairs to their bathroom and look down on their garden below. It is unkempt and many plants grow unchecked. And I see red admirals, peacock butterflies, small tortoiseshells, and small whites. There are a few different species of bee that visit. And, at night there are moths, and spiders, and slugs, and worms. And there are bats flying about looking for food!

Their next door neighbour's garden is much more neat and ordered. It is mostly covered with concrete slabs. There are hanging baskets and pots in which flowers grow, but it's all very neat and ordered. And, I don't see half as much life visiting that space as I do visiting my parents' garden.

Nature prefers nature.

This is why you may have heard or read of campaigns run by wildlife charities attempting to convince people to leave the lawn be (No Mow May, for example). For a little too long too many of us have been living our lives to the detriment of the nature around us. And, yes, we need to push and get the message across to those in power that our infrastructure needs to be built and maintained with nature in mind, inclusive of wildlife, but we can take these smaller steps ourselves. After all, lots of small steps can get you pretty far.

I hope that my wildflowers succeed and I hope they attract life. But, as we know, life needs more than just a few little oases in deserts of grey concrete and red brick, so I hope you will join my small effort and make spaces of your own.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this piece. If you did, please consider buying me a coffee over on ko-fi; it keeps me writing and walking in nature! Thank you again!