July 2001 issue - Grass and Lawns


Here you'll find all the sources of the information on roses in this month's Sideshoots. All were correct at the time of going to press.

Grass and Grasses Facts

  • Number of grass species growing wild around the world, depending on how you calculate it: 9,600-10,000
    (pers comm Steve Renvoize, Head of Grasses, Kew)

  • Proportion of all wild grass species growing in the UK: 1.69%
    (Botanical Society of the British Isles - http://www.rbge.org.uk/data/BSBI/db/

  • Number of dried specimens of grasses held in the herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: 250,000
    (Kew Website - http://www.rbgkew.org.uk)

  • Number of different grasses available to British gardeners: 628
    (The Plantfinder 2000/2001 - counted)

  • Proportion of grasses available to British gardeners which are bamboos: 34.7%
    (The Plantfinder 2000/2001 - counted and calculated!)

  • Proportion of grasses available to British gardeners which are available from only one nursery: 24.7%
    (The Plantfinder 2000/2001 - counted and calculated)

  • Number of pollen grains produced by one anther of rye grass: 20,000
    (Ornamental Grasses by Roger Gounds, Helm, 1989)

  • Tonnes of agricultural crops in the grass family harvested in the UK in 2000: 24,000,000
    (MAFF cereal production survey - http://www.maff.gov.uk/esg/m_index.htm)

  • Percentage increase compared with 1999: 8.4%
    (MAFF cereal production survey - http://www.maff.gov.uk/esg/m_index.htm)

  • Tonnes of grass seed produced for amenity, as distinct from agricultural, purposes in the UK 2000: 1978
    (NIAB, via pers comm from British Seed Houses)

  • Percentage increase compared with 1999: 7.9%
    (NIAB, via pers comm from British Seed Houses)

  • Proportion produced by the market leader, British Seed Houses: 48%
    (NIAB, via pers comm from British Seed Houses)

  • Number of homes in the United Kingdom with lawns: 16 million
    (pers. comm. John Clowse, The Scotts Company)

  • Proportion which never receive any lawn food or weedkilling treatment: 75%
    (pers. comm. John Clowse, The Scotts Company)

  • Size of lawn in square metres, whose leaves, in a year, will release enough oxygen for a family of four: 230
    (Turfgrass Growers Association - http://www.turfgrasssod.org/pressroom.html)

  • Number of kilometres of grass roots in such a lawn: 1,158,357,004
    (Turfgrass Growers Association - http://www.turfgrasssod.org/pressroom.html)

  • Number of times these roots would stretch to the sun and back if laid end to end: 3.8
    (Turfgrass Growers Association - http://www.turfgrasssod.org/pressroom.html)

  • Number of grass plants, per square metre, in a dense, well-maintained lawn: 9,276
    (Turfgrass Growers Association - http://www.turfgrasssod.org/pressroom.html)

  • Number of kilometres of root of a healthy grass plant in a well established and well maintained lawn: 228
    (Turfgrass Growers Association - http://www.turfgrasssod.org/pressroom.html)

  • Proportion of the weight of a typical lawn grass plant which is water: 75-80%
    (Turfgrass Growers Association - http://www.turfgrasssod.org/pressroom.html)

  • Proportion of the weight of a typical lawn grass plant which is in its roots: 90%
    (Turfgrass Growers Association - http://www.turfgrasssod.org/pressroom.html)

  • Proportion, by weight, of water in a typical sample of grass clippings: 90%
    (Turfgrass Growers Association - http://www.turfgrasssod.org/pressroom.html)

  • Weight of clippings, in kilogrammes, produced annually by a typical well maintained lawn: 91
    (Turfgrass Growers Association - http://www.turfgrasssod.org/pressroom.html)

  • Nutrient content of grass clippings when left on the lawn: N - 4%, P - 2%, K - 0.5%
    (Turfgrass Growers Association - http://www.turfgrasssod.org/pressroom.html)

  • Hours taken, per year, to mow an average lawn with a 19in mower: 13
    (Turfgrass Growers Association - http://www.turfgrasssod.org/pressroom.html [recalculated])

  • Longest ride on a lawnmower, in kilometres, by Brad Hauter of Lake in the Hills, Illinois, USA: 6501.1
    (Guinnes Book of World Records - http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com)

  • Time taken for the trip: 51 days
    (Guinnes Book of World Records - http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com)

  • Amount spent per year on lawncare fertilisers and weedkillers: ¬£63 million
    (pers. comm. John Clowse, The Scotts Company)

  • Proportion of that spent with the market leader, The Scotts Company: 46%
    (pers. comm. John Clowse, The Scotts Company)

  • Number of web pages ralating to grass: 1,940,000
    (Google - http://www.google.com)

  • Proportion which, in fact, refer to marijuana: 1.49%
    (Google - http://www.google.com)

Grass and Grasses banter

    OH NOT LAWNS, THEY’ÄôRE SO BORING So why do we spend ¬£312m pounds a year on mowers and other garden equipment?

    BECAUSE WE’ÄôRE COMPLETELY MAD?’Ķ Now look, grass is the pride and joy of the traditional British gardener’Ķ just look at those stripes. And there’Äôs even a British Lawnmower Museum.

    WHICH PRESUMABLY’Ķ NO, SURELY NOT Yes, it has a collection of over 200 fully restored machines. Its highlight is the ’ÄòMowers of the Rich and Famous’Äô exhibit featuring machines donated by Prince Charles, Nicholas Parsons, Stirling Moss and Vanessa Feltz amongst others. The ’ÄòRich and Famous’Äô page on their website even plays Abba’Äôs Money, Money, Money while you read their appeal for donations.

    NOW YOU’ÄôRE GOING TO TELL ME IT’ÄôS THE MOST POPULAR TOURIST ATTRACTION IN THE COUNTRY Well, not exactly; last year they had less than six thousand visitors (5800 - source British Lawnmower Museum). But as an additional attraction the museum even has an all-the-year-round fireworks shop which invites you to join the Big Bang Club.

    BUT ALAN TITCHMARSH AND THE GROUND FORCE GANG WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE LAWNS WERE OUT AND DECKING WAS IN He has a mower in the Rich and Famous exhibit too.

    I SUPPOSE HE DOESN’ÄôT NEED IT IF HE’ÄôS COVERING HIS GARDEN IN DECKING But he risks adding to global warming, though I suppose that will help him grow his cannas.

    ALL THOSE TREES BEING CUT DOWN FOR PLANKS, I SUPPOSE Not at all, the US congress has said that lawns in towns help reduce global warning.

    I DON’ÄôT KNOW; PERHAPS I SHOULD HAVE A LAWN AFTER ALL Oh make up your mind. Remember what Kahlil Gibran said: Zeal is a volcano, on the peak of which the grass of indecisiveness does not grow.


Grass history

    1871 ’ÄòGrasses are rarely seen in combination with flowering plants in any class of gardens.’Äô William Sutherland
    (The Handbook of Hardy Herbaceous and Alpine Flowers)

    1957 ’ÄòHow can these jewels of the garden have been virtually ignored for so long?’Äô Karl Foerster
    (The Arrival of Grasses and Ferns in our Gardens)

    1976 ’ÄòGrasses have hovered on the fringe of horticulture for a long time but have never really made the grade.’Äô Graham Stuart Thomas
    (Perennial Garden Plants)

    1989 ’ÄòIf you look at most gardens you will be impressed by the singular lack of grasses in proportion to other plants.’Äô Roger Grounds
    (Ornamental Grasses)

    1998 ’ÄòOrnamental grasses appear to have been discovered by British gardeners only recently.’Äô Piet Oudolf & Michael King
    (Gardening with Grasses)

    1998 ’ÄòOrnamental grasses are at last coming into their own and finding their true place in our gardens.’Äô Roger Grounds
    (The Plantfinder’Äôs Guide to Ornamental Grasses)

Famous grass

    Gunter Grass (winner of Nobel Prize for Literature 1999) (http://almaz.com/nobel/literature/1999a.html)


Unknown lawns

    Actors Phil Lawn, Andrea Lawn, Tony Lawn, Jennifer Lawn and Pamela S. Lawn - none of whom made more than a single film, no other Lawns made films at all although Jennifer Lawn played one of Sophie’Äôs children in Sophie’Äôs Choice.
    (Internet Movie Database - http://www.imdb.com)


Strange lawn


    The first film starring a lawn, The Clarence House Lawn Party (1897) featuring "His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, now King Edward VII, with the Duke and Duchess of York, Prince George of Greece, and other notable personages in a lawn party at Clarence House."
    (Internet Movie Database - http://www.imdb.com)













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