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Bee happy: Duchess of Cornwall plans wildflower meadow for insects
2021-08-20 00:00:00.0     每日电讯报-英国新闻     原网页

       

       She recently said that a life without flowers would be "unbearable", while her husband has long urged people to work with nature rather than against it.

       Now the Duchess of Cornwall, 74, has revealed that she plans to grow a wildflower meadow in her garden in a bid to attract more butterflies and bees.

       Making a guest appearance on this week's Gardeners' World on BBC2, the Duchess, a passionate gardener, told presenter Monty Don of her plans, which are likely to be welcomed by the "no-mow" movement.

       "I've got a little bit of a woodland garden that I’ve started, and I would love to build that up more," she said. "I would love to put down swathes of bulbs, and I would also like to have a proper wildflower meadow.

       "At the moment I've got a bit, but the grass has taken over and we're going to have another go this year at planting more seeds, because I think it's ever more important to have these wild flowers – if we're going to keep on attracting butterflies and bees, I think that's very important."

       The Duchess's comments chime with a growing movement to allow gardens to grow wild and cut the grass less frequently.

       Mr Don is one of its biggest champions, but sparked a spat earlier this year when he claimed lawns were an "obsession, which tends to be male, which is controlling rather than embracing".

       Meanwhile, the Duchess said gardening was a "spiritual experience" in which people can discover an “affinity with the soil” and lose themselves – but admitted voles ate her latest crop of asparagus roots and strawberries.

       As she toured Mr Don's Jewel Garden, she suggested the pandemic had allowed people to discover the healing nature of gardening as they spent more time at home.

       "I think gardens got people through Covid – they realised how special a garden was and what they could do with it, they could become inventive, even if they hadn't before, they could start growing vegetables," she said.

       "It was a sort of spiritual experience for them, they discovered a sort of affinity with the soil – you can go into a garden and you can completely lose yourself, you don't have to think about anything else, you're surrounded by nature, you've got birds singing, you've got bees buzzing about – there is something very healing about gardens.

       "I'm very lucky I've got a big vegetable garden, but you get the mice, the voles this year, all ate the asparagus roots and got into the strawberries, so you can never win – there's always something."

       In appearing on Gardeners' World, the Duchess followed in the footsteps of her husband, the Prince of Wales, who was a guest in 2018. She also followed both the Queen and Prince Charles in appearing on Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time last year, when she called in with a question about lavender.

       Since the 1930s, the UK has lost 97 per cent of its wildflower meadows, leaving species such as harebell and field scabious at risk of disappearing. The Government said last month that bees and other pollinators were vital to a healthy environment, driving the economy and boosting biodiversity.

       Rebecca Pow, the environment minister, said: "Everyone can help them flourish by leaving patches of garden to grow wild, growing more flowers, cutting grass less often, not disturbing insect nests and carefully considering how we use pesticides."

       But while Mr Don is among those who have called on gardeners and councils to stop mowing, others are less convinced by the "no-mow" movement. Alan Titchmarsh has said maintaining his striped lawn is good for his mental health, while Medway council, in Kent, said residents had complained about the state of its verges, with some saying drivers' views were being restricted at junctions.

       David Hedges-Gower, the UK's leading lawn expert and author of Modern Lawn Care, said: "Grass, whether cut or not, still does incredible things for the environment. The amount of carbon dioxide it takes out of the air, the soot and dust and pollution, lawns are worth having."

       


标签:综合
关键词: wildflower     flowers     gardens     voles     grass     garden     Gardeners     Duchess    
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