In article , sahara
writes
hello
like many of you i am excitedly formulating plans to put into action
once the long awaited the spring arrives. My latest plan is to solve
our problem of being too lazy to mow the lawn.
I'd like to resow the lawn with meadow type wildflowers so that when
we leave weeks between mowings it will look like it's meant to be like
that! Great idea! I was so impressed with my own thinking that last
night that I excitedly ordered some meadow mix, primroses, red campion
and the like from www.wildflowersuk.com (as suggested on this list
earlier last year) as well as some bee flowers mix from chiltern seeds
(for the bees that will hopefully be nesting in my new bee nest box).
Today, in the cold light of dawn I am having doubts. Will my
wildflowers be weedy thugs that will make my neighbours hate me and
rampage over my smallish terrace garden? Have I done the wrong thing??
For your info my lawn is about 10 sqm (I think?) and is slightly
overshadowed by the neighbours (lovely) ceanothus and a (large)
conifer.

Whether a plant is a wildflower, a weed, a companion plant or whatever
is purely in the opinion of the person regarding it. If you like the
plant and you want it to be there, it does not matter if you put it
there, or if it arrived of its own accord. I tend to think of all plants
as being either natural or cultivated, but that simplification does not
cover every case, for instance self-set varieties of grass can appear in
a cultivated lawn etc. Some gardeners don't mind that, others do.

Our lawn is a self-grassed oval patch used and enjoyed as a family
recreational area and a place of relaxation. It also serves as a
wildflower area. We achieve that by mowing regularly at a chosen height,
then allowing any other plants to grow as they will in those conditions.
Which wildflowers will thrive will vary according to the height of cut
chosen, but it is important to keep that height steady and to mow the
lawn regularly. We keep ours at 1.5ins./3-4cms. during the growing
season, letting it over-winter a little higher.

The lawn has masses of daisies, buttercups, celandines, self-heal,
clovers etc. and mosses in spring and autumn. We don't plant anything,
nor take any away, the area is as nature decides according to 25 years
of our management. The surface is lush and springy, it remains green
without ever being watered, even during long droughts.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.