Garden notes from April Cottage in May

Its late May and it is cold, wet and windy. After the warm summery days of April, I feel cheated by this return to temperatures more associated with March. We have had some sporadic showers of rain recently after an extended period of drought, which brought back memories of last summer when lawns everywhere turned so brown I could not take photographs of any garden with areas of short grass because they looked so ugly.

This is one very good reason for letting lawn grass remain relatively long at around 3 to 4 inches. At this length the grass catches much of the morning dew and then, having collected it arounds its roots, forms a protective blanket that traps the moisture where it is most needed. As a result, our lawns are still very green and yet I have only had to mow once so far this year.

The other reason for keeping lawn grass long is to encourage the low growing wildflowers that spread around singly or in little clumps looking as if Laura Ashley had designed it for us. Eventually these little stars, Bellis daisies, buttercups, speedwell, forget-me-nots and dandelions will increase and not only look beautiful but attract bees and other pollinating insects too.

How beautiful dandelions are, so often ignored as "just" a weed or common wildflower. If you pick one and look closely it is the most intense sunshine yellow and with its double mini sunflower like appearance is incredibly striking. Then of course comes the seed head evoking so many childhood memories of blowing the little parasols up into the air or  asking questions about how to tell the time from it.