It’s that gorgeous ‘golden’ time of year. Not the subtle, subdued golden hues of autumn leaves, but the vibrant golden yellows of spring flowers. Daffodils, forsythia, dandelions, celandines and primroses are all contributing to the spring golden glow. It’s fabulous.

Today (Wednesday) the Wildlife Trusts and Royal Horticultural Society are launching their “Bring Your lawn to life’ campaign and are asking gardeners to ‘reimagine’ their lawns for this mowing season.

Every year the RHS and The Wildlife Trusts lead a new campaign to inspire people to garden for wildlife. This year the charities are encouraging gardeners to experiment with a new look lawn for the benefit of wildlife and also the wider environment. Basically they are asking people to raise the blade on their mower and cut their grass less regularly to embrace daisies, dandelions, clovers and other naturally flowering plants.

When grassed areas are allowed to grow longer, research shows those areas help to mitigate flooding by soaking up rainwater more effectively, to counter the effect of heat in urban areas through their cooling properties, and also to capture pollutants. They are also less likely to ‘burn off’ during dry spells than short grass owing to their longer and better developed roots. This means that they will continue to benefit wildlife through the summer by providing an all-important habitat for a whole host of insects including ants, bees and butterflies.

You can ‘reimagine’ your lawn by reducing the frequency of mowing to once every three to four weeks to allow flowers such as dandelion and speedwell to bloom and help pollinators. That will also please the less-enthusiastic mowers amongst us, but do remember longer grass will put more of a strain on your mower – make sure it can cope before you let your grass ‘run wild’.

Do keep some areas short though – it is a nice contrast with longer grass and pathways should be cut shorter to keep them accessible. Shorter grass also provides foraging areas for worm-eating birds. Allowing some grassed areas to grow longer as a contrast, will offer shelter to grasshoppers and other insects, which in turn provide food for frogs, birds, and bats.

If you have a small lawn, consider alternatives to grass, like chamomile and creeping thyme and have a look at ‘tapestry lawns’. Described as, “a new, practically researched and timely development of the ornamental lawn format that integrates both horticultural practice and ecological science and re-determines the potential of a lawn. Mown barely a handful of times a year and with no need for fertilisers or scarifying, tapestry lawns are substantially richer in their diversity of plant and animal life compared to traditional grass-only lawns and see the return of flowers and colour to a format from which they are usually purposefully excluded.”

Whilst traditional gardeners may go ‘Tonto’, there are definitely new-style ‘Lawn Rangers’ in town. And the countryside.