In a study of urban gardens by Ken Thompson and his team at Sheffield University in 2004, they found the average lawn included 15 flowering plants, in some cases many more. 

The top three most familiar lawn plants are dandelions, daisies and buttercups.

These three shout for our attention, but take time to look a little closer to discover other players in our flowery lawns. Given a high setting on the lawn cutting blade, and removal of cuttings, some of our favourite early spring flowers, such as cowslips will happily colonise in a lawn. 

Flowering in synchrony in the foreground are the purple flowers of ground ivy, Glechoma hederacea. The distinctive, blackcurrant or tom cat smell of the leaves is unmistakable, this characteristic once rendered it’s use as a bittering agent for beer.

With its sky-blue flowers, forget-me-not flourishes in the shady parts of the lawn. In many cases this will be an escape of a garden variety but still provides a welcome source of nectar for early insects.

April sees the uncut lawn blooming in earnest. Germander speedwell, Veronica chameadrys, has intense blue flowers with a white middle, shown here attracting a hoverfly. Speedwell was considered a good luck charm for travellers.

With favourable conditions, clovers and bird’s trefoil may all put in appearance. Both are prime food sources for bumble bees, so much so that red clover has been described as ‘bee bread’. 

Some flowers that appear will be new arrivals, but many flowering on tall spikes will have been lurking incognito, waiting for mowing to cease long enough to flower and set seed. A couple in this mix are, agrimony Agrimonia eupatoria and yarrow, Achillea millefolium. There are many forms of garden varieties of yarrow, but given half a chance, the wildflower puts on just as spectacular and reliable show. 

Long grass is good for wildlife, most resistant to drought, but considered to be in short supply in gardens. One study found 10 times more species of bugs (hymenoptera) and 50 times more individuals in long grass compared to that mowed once a week. Move from a weekly cut to ideally cutting two or three times a year, removing the cuttings to reduce fertility which favours grass growth.

Simply leaving the edges to grow long can give rewards, matching any garden border. The garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata, towering in the background in the photograph below, is the food plant of the orange tip butterfly’s caterpillar. Threading through the border, white dead nettle, Lamium album, provides a long-lasting nectar supply for bumble bees. This richer garden ecosystem benefits invertebrate dependent species such as hedgehogs, bats and garden birds.

To enjoy these wildlife rewards, let go of the idea of a grass monoculture, relax about bare patches, mow less often, don't use a chemical drench to suppress nature and instead let your lawn become a patchwork quilt of wildflowers, sit back and enjoy your own mini-meadow.

We would love to see photos of your wild lawns and the wildlife you are attracting to them - send your photos to us at comms@suffolkwildlifetrust.org - thanks!