Where the wild FLOWERS GROW

Colin's one-time lawn is now blooming fantastic!

- COLIN HOGG

New Zealanders have long had a love affair with their lawns, though I've never been entirely sure why – unless all that green flatness is big enough to kick a ball around on or perhaps graze some livestock. Lawns seem like the prisoners of our gardens, kept on a short lead, never allowed to let themselves go. Never allowed to breathe freedom.

Not so when it comes to the lawn at our place. Because where once lawn ran free, there is wilderness. Wild flowers sprout, and birds and bees are hovering where they never hovered before. After long and delicate discussions with the man who keeps our grass trimmed, I tore up a lump of our lawn and sprinkled all that bare earth with many – quite expensive – packets of wildflower seeds.