Drought-Resistant Grass and Lawn

This is not the occasion to trace the history of drought resistant grass and lawn-making through the centuries. The task has frequently been attempted, and it has made a fascinating story; today we do not associate any other order of plants for lawn-making other than members of the Gramineae, or grasses. Of these, nearly five thousand species are scattered over every part of the earth. Out of this vast number less than a dozen species are used for lawn-making and grass growing. You cannot count any artificial grass or synthetic turf as “natural grass.”

The modern, grass lawn on which so much skill, research and experiment have been expended is perhaps the most perfect of all gardening achievements. The earliest accounts we have of lawns and their making tell us that they were of grass, but among it were planted “all manner of sweet and plesant floures.” This type of grass / lawn-making is unthinkable today; the modern lawn must be weedless and flowerless, nothing short of that is permissible.

The modern version of the early lawn still persists when we naturalize bulbous and other plants in the less formal parts of the garden or when we form a flat area of bricks or paving stones covering them with dwarf or creeping plants such as thymes, acaenas, campanulas, dianthus, hypericums. Such areas, not uncommon, can be of great interest and beauty and may be termed an alpine lawn that can be freely walked upon and without any member of the grass family being used.

We must go back several centuries to find that lawn-making to delight the eye, to scent the air and for sport was not of grass but of camomile – the Anthemis nobilis of the botanist. It is the only plant other than grasses that has been successfully used for lawns. The camomile lawn still survives, but neglect during the war years has lessened their numbers and interfered with their increase.

It is asserted that when Drake left off his game of bowls to intercept the Spanish Armada he was playing on a camomile lawn and the camomile lawn was a feature for several centuries after Drake. Many references are made to its beauty and to its being an indispensable feature of the country house garden.

Today all our lawns are of grass and this is not likely to be superseded by any other plant. In our efforts, however, to reproduce some of the features which interested and delighted those who gardened centuries ago the camomile lawn is well worthy of consideration. Happily, there are still examples of what a lovely feature it can be as in more than one of our royal residences there are still large areas of camomile and although small compared with the total area of grass are still after centuries of care and attention vigorous, healthy and flourishing.

The most remarkable feature of the plant when used for lawn-making is its ability to withstand severe drought. We have seen the lawns of our public parks and private gardens during a long drought turn as brown as the roadway, but the camomile lawns referred to are never affected by drought; the plant seems to enjoy it thoroughly. It remains emerald green, pleasing to the eye and soft to the tread and when freshly cut or bruised fills the air with its refreshing fragrance and it shares with the neighboring grass the weekly mowing with the most modern of lawn mowers.

I am not certain whether camomile has ever been tried as a lawn plant in countries where rainfall is so uncertain that a green lawn is only possible by lawn irrigation of some sort; the experiment might be worth while as the merits of camomile as a drought resister is well known. It is strong growing and aggressive and on thin grass lawns speedily spreads and takes possession.

Seeds may be sown along with seeds of lawn grasses, a mixture of both grass and camomile has been satisfactory on poor sandy soils, but the ideal is the lawn of pure camomile. This can only be assured by raising the plants in the garden and planting them out about six inches apart when they are about six months old from seed.

By J. Hay

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