Don’t go so wild about neat lawns, gardeners urged
Untrimmed edges should not divide us, warns horticultural expert, as row can get ‘aggressive’
IT’S the ultimate turf war: should gardeners keep a neat lawn at all times, or join a growing band of rewilders who let it all hang out for nature?
A senior official at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has called for calm on all sides, arguing that we should not let an untrimmed hedge divide us.
Matthew Pottage, head curator at RHS Wisley, said the subject of gardening had become too “aggressive”.
“What I don’t like, because I use Twitter, is the way that everyone is jumping down each other’s throats if they don’t agree,” he said.
“If somebody wants to mow their lawn and have bedding plants, and they’re getting enjoyment out of gardening, brilliant, let them do it. It is better than paving over your front garden. And I just think people should be sensitive to what other people enjoy.”
Manicured lawns have become the target of ire by green groups and conservationists, who argue they are bad for biodiversity and water use.
Articles with headlines such as “Kill your lawn, before it kills you”, and “Your perfect lawn is bad for the environment” call for gardeners to let lawns grow long to attract bugs and small mammals. A campaign backed by Royal Society for the Protection of Birds RSPB and Plantlife, the conservation charity, calls for gardeners to stop mowing during May, and consider minimal cropping for the rest of the year.
The debate has pitted experts Monty Don, who says he prefers a more “passive approach” to let insects grow, against Alan Titchmarsh, who has defended his striped lawn as “excellent for my mental health”. And last year a “rewilded” beaver habitat won best garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, prompting even Mr Don to ask if it was a “real garden”. But Mr Pottage said “everyone does have different styles”.
“The thing is gardening is a fun, nice thing. It doesn’t need to be aggressive. Or contentious, really,” he said.
The RHS, which pioneered the use of chemicals to maximise production and has stood for orderly gardens, embraces a more relaxed approach. It calls for gardeners to reduce reliance on pesticides, and has tweaked its own spaces. At Wisley, that has meant Mr Pottage getting rid of many of the bedding plants, and letting dandelions grow over the lawn. “I know that some of our older visitors are surprised to see it,” he said. “Our messaging changes all the time. And I think it’d be quite stupid and you become quite outdated if you don’t.”
He added: “I genuinely like to think it’s about balance. We’re not a nature reserve. We’re not just standing back and letting mother nature do whatever she wants to do. We have meadows, we have fine turf, we have rose gardens, we have mixed borders. So we still have diversity. Gardening shouldn’t be at the expense of the planet.”