GRASS: wild type a world away from garden chore

MOWING the lawn must be one of the most tedious chores Man ever invented for himself, especially if - like me - you have a deep aversion to gardening.

I must be the only person I know whose garden looks worse after I have been at it with the mower - which is why my wife insists on doing the smaller garden at the front of the house herself (ie the one everyone sees). The commercially developed grass in most of our gardens seems a world way from the native wild grasses still found in our woodlands and meadows.

Neatness and colour regularity provided by commercial grass may look appealing to humans, but insects and other wildlife get far more benefit from wild grasses allowed to run rampant.

Wild grasses can be startlingly pretty when viewed close up and some of their names are intriguing.

Woodland grasses include Creeping Soft, Wood Melick, Wood False-Brome, Giant Fescue and Hairy Brome.

Hairy Brome is a typical woodland grass, the tall sort whose feathery spikes are probably plucked by your fingers during a leisurely stroll.

Tiny hairs project from the lower leaves giving it its name and it prefers shady, moist areas where it can grow in abundance.

Meadow grasses range from Tufted Hair and Crested Dog's Tail to False Oat and Meadow Foxtail.

That last one - so named because its head resembles a tiny fox's brush - is very common in low lying meadows, particularly valleys.

Wetland grasses have names like Common Cotton, Black Bog Rush, White Beaked Sedge, and Reedsweet.

Reedsweet is a pinker, more slender grass found on the banks beside running water and actually growing in still water.

The 'sweet' part of its name may come from the fact that farmers once found it a good fodder grass.

Grasses growing on exposed limestone cliffs and scrub areas include Quaking, Creeping Bent, Sheep's Fescue and Blue Moor.

Blue Moor gets its name from an attractive blue tinge which sets it apart from other grasses.

Smaller than most wild grasses, it has quite a delicate appearance but looks are deceptive.

Like all wild grasses, it is tough and survives on northern rock ledges and cliffs against the worst the weather can throw at it.

Modern garden grass seems bland in comparison.

I doubt that the poet Rupert Brooke would have felt so inspired by it to pen the line:"Breathless, we flung us on the windy hill, laughed in the sun, and kissed the lovely grass."