APPRECIATING LAWN WEEDS

The publication date for this booklet is Monday 5^th February, and all being well copies will be in local bookshops some time during the day.

It retails for £3.75 and is available by post for £4 from That Plant's Odd, 1, Station Cottages, Hullavington, Chippenham, SN 14 6ET , please enquire for postage rates overseas by e-mail martin@worldmutation.demon.co.uk

The book is rather an eccentric account of a variety of ways in which lawn weeds can be appreciated rather than despised and hated. It looks at the historical perspective of how lawns originated, presenting them as a subspecies of 'laund'. Then it looks at the origins of such launds into prehistory. Individual species of weeds are reported but a more general account of common lawn weeds and their appreciation is in the process of being produced by Rosemary Castle. This will also contain important information about the wildlife benefits of the weedy lawn. The poetry of the weedy lawn is introduced by presenting some of the verses containing references to lawn weeds from famous old poets, though they didn't necessarily know that they were writing about lawn weeds at the time.

The book is illustrated, but not lavishly, with colour photos, on the cover. The best by Sean Edwards of the famous Dobcross daisy, the strangest daisy in the world, discovered by Hazel Guttridge. There are also line drawings and leaf silhouettes. Other contributors introduce further perspectives including lesser celandines, Irish weedy lawns, fungi in lawns. This work does not include moss but I've just been told of information about inspecting and appreciating lawn mosses which will be becoming available shortly.

There is much more to this subject than can be contained in the two works that are nearly available. If readers are interested in pursuing this subject, send e-mail address and I will keep you informed of putative 'Campaign'.