An article in Scientific American highlights the environmental cost of lawns.
“The well-manicured lawn behind King’s College Chapel at the University of Cambridge predated the American Revolution. Then, in 2019, an ecologically minded head gardener secured permission to tear up a portion of the grass and plant a meadow in its place. Before long it bloomed with poppies, buttercups and Queen Anne’s lace.
“King’s College botanist Cicely A.M. Marshall surveyed the site before and after its makeover. She and her colleagues found that, compared with their numbers in the remaining lawn, plants, bats, spiders, true bugs and other invertebrates had flourished in the meadow. And without the need for much mowing or any fertilizer, the meadow’s upkeep led to 99 percent less greenhouse gas emissions per hectare than the lawn.”
READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE – Biodiversity flourishes in historic lawn turned wildflower meadow
TOTALLY annoying to leave out the name of the instigator and person who did the “dirty fingernails” backbreaking work on the project…”head gardener”? Really? I would like to know who this visionary is. I totally respect the education and knowledge the botanist brings to the table, but surely to not give credit to both is inexcusable. Did you really think we would not notice? (BTW, yes, I am a 30 year veteran designer/gardener, who has also made wonderful gardens and stood there picking my jaw off the floor while the land owners took every bit of credit for my efforts. We need to change the world in too many ways to leave anyone out…especially those willing to do the actual hard work.