Who needs a green lawn…

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When you can have an orange one? I have been encouraging these plants because I love the vivid colour of the flowers. Bees and hoverflies also love them. They are called ‘Fox and cubs’ or ‘orange hawkbit’ (Pilosella aurantiaca). They flower for quite a long period, they withstand dry conditions very well, the flower stems are an almost uniform height and when they are not in flower the leaves form rosettes of softly furry, slightly greyish-green leaves that lie flat on the surface of the lawn. They spread by runners as well as seed. They outcompete the grass, moss and most other lawn ‘weeds’ as long as they are not mown too often, so you get a tidy appearance. I’ve been promoting their spread by not mowing too often and carefully going around flowering patches. Now I love the result!