Front gardens and roadsides reimagined as meadows offer a glimpse of the greener future we all must aim forIt was a startling picture. An eight-mile river of colour flows where once a dry bed of stubby grass grew - all because a local authority rewilding strategy brought country life back to an urban landscape. The stretch of roadside verges in and around Rotherham, South Yorkshire, planted with wild flowers for the third year running, created national news last month: photographs showing the profusion of poppies, cornflowers and corn marigolds set amid the concrete and brick landscape of the town's ring road made for a dramatic juxtaposition. Who knew a central reservation could be transformed into a colourful mini-idyll for human eyes and local insects too?It is a reminder that nature has a gift for giving. As our readers have shown by sharing their photos, meadow planting is having a moment. Aberdeen council and Highways England, which manages 30,000 hectares of green space across England, are considering following the example set by Rotherham, Nottinghamshire and cities including Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester. Life on Earth has an intrinsic value, is of spiritual importance and contains an aesthetic beauty that defies being quantified. But there's no doubt it helps that rewilding, often associated with grand schemes such as the reintroduction of species, can be as cheap as chips. Rotherham council's new system has led to savings on mowing costs of ?23,000 a year. Continue reading...
The Guardian view on lawns and verges: go wild | Editorial
18. červenece 2019 20:00
Příroda
Celý článek: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/18/the-guardian-view-on-lawns-and-verges-go-wild
Zdroj: The Guardian