This excellent article (below) that featured in The Observer on Sunday, talks through the issues of climate change and droughts and how it affects grass. The end of grass is so ubiquitous and has so many uses. It’s so common we don’t even notice it, but we certainly notice when it stops growing through drought. Just this summer, large parts of the southern parts of the UK saw months of brown dry grass as it simply hadn’t rained for months.
What isn’t always obvious is that grass (including corn) is used for feeding large amounts of domestic and farmed animals. However, yields of spring hay are forecast to decline by up to 50% by 2080 which will certainly have huge ramifications.
So the question that is raised – is this is end of grass as we know it? The classic type of British lawn grass certainly isn’t drought-resistant. This raises many questions such as do we re-design our parks and gardens for climate change?
In terms of garden design, I have been working with different types of long ornamental grasses, such as native fescues, many of which are hardy and drought-tolerant. During my work, I have long argued against large lawns as they’re not good for ecology and wildlife.
Where we do want to keep lawns, we should encourage all the traditional ‘weeds’ such as daisies, dandelions and clover, which moves away from using a single species. Any mix of wildflowers within a lawn also hugely benefits wildlife and they are better at retaining water.
Read the in-depth article here:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/02/with-ever-hotter-uk-summers-its-time-to-rethink-the-future-of-grass
New nature reserve in Wigan and Leigh
The former industrial wasteland at Wigan and Leigh Flashes has now officially been become a National Nature Reserve.
The 737 acre area of woodland, wetland and meadows is now an important site for birds such as the willow tit and bittern.
It is amazing to see that this former coal mining area is now a flourishing natural environment, with a rich diversity of birds, wildlife and rare plants.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-63118719
What am I reading?
I’ve been reading about the huge redevelopment of Battersea Power Station this week. Designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, the huge power station, sat on the Thames, was opened in the 1930s. It was decommissioned in the 1970s and was then disused for 30 years.
It has now been redeveloped into prime residential, office and retail space, designed to make the most of the architectural assets. It’s amazing to see an architecturally-distinctive building preserved and redeveloped into something that the public can visit and use.
https://www.dezeen.com/2022/10/05/battersea-power-station-opens-wilkinson-eyre/
