Sunday 25 June 2023

A Pollinator-Friendly Lawn


    A lot of people strive to have a mono-cultured lawn, with only one type of grass that they keep shorn low.  To me those types of lawns look sterile, and they might as well have a concrete or plastic turf, for all the good they do to Nature.  I try to keep my lawn more on the wild side.  It doesn’t look as neat, it is more shabby, but at least it helps provide food and shelter for the bees and other pollinating insects.

    In my lawn I have a variety of plants, and if I spot an area where some wild, flowering plants have come up, I mow around it so they have a chance to seed and establish themselves for next year.  I enjoy watching the succession of plants that bloom throughout the spring and summer.  First off the mark in my lawn are the blue Forget-me-nots, followed by the bright yellow dandelions, a favorite of lots of bees, bears, and even my dog Kona likes to eat them.  After the dandelion flowers are over, I do mow down the dandelion fluff balls.

    At present it is clover that is covering a large expanse of my lawn.  There are also some patches of the purple flower shown below, that I don’t know the name of, as well as daisies, and buttercups.  These last two are considered “noxious” weeds by cattleman, but since I am not a cattleman, I tolerate them in my lawn.

    I am willing to put up with a bit of “unsightliness” in my lawn for the sake of diversity and the well being of Nature.



 

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

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