Gardeners have been urged to add four things to their garden to see it thrive this summer. Celebrity gardener Monty Don has designed a lawn with the Royal Horticultural Society for the Chelsea Flower Show that doesn’t require constant mowing and can be trampled by dogs.
The “robust lawn” is full of daisies, clovers, dandelions, and rye grass usually found in public open space. It will also be dog-friendly in honour of his beloved pets. Daisies are a native perennial abundant, mainly found in short turf. It flowers from March to October, sometimes all year through the year if winters are mild, but mainly from April to June. Clovers are excellent green manures, thriving in low fertility soil. The are quick growing and will fix nitrogen in their roots, feeding the next crop after digging in.
Dandelions are a perennial with a stout taproot. They flower from May to October but most profusely in May and June. Periods of low temperature seems to intensify flowering but daylength does not have a great influence.
Rye grass is a tufted, fibrous-rooted perennial grass that is generally regarded as native and is common throughout Britain. The earliest cultivars flower in May but flowering of different cultivars continues throughout the summer.
Guy Barter, chief horticulturist at the RHS, said: “Our ultimate dog lawn is pretty humble, combining only a hard-wearing grass seed and the stalwarts of the garden – daisies, dandelions and clover.
“It’s a reminder that lawns don’t have to look perfect to be perfect for our pets, everyday use and the wider environment.”
Jamie Butterworth, the garden designer who worked with Monty Don to create the garden, said of it: “Despite this being the greatest flower show on earth, we don’t want this to be a manicured lawn.
“We want this to be a lawn that’s a little rough around the edges, that has dandelions and daisies growing freely, the ultimate hard-wearing lawn. The shaggy model of a lawn is back.”
