Red Lawn

The mere mention of wasting time and money should make everyone question their actions and choose less costly options. Long-term grass maintenance is both time-consuming and financially expensive. This may not pose much of a problem for those with small gardens but for the 22 football pitches worth of estate lawns within the Johnstown neighbourhood it is a significant problem. Local estate groups raise over €50,000 from residents to cut and maintain public lawn spaces - perhaps money better spent on something else?

Also, the growing amount of hard landscaping coupled with lawn space has significantly reduced the number and variety of native long grasses, trees, plants, mosses, algae, lichen, insects, birds, and wildlife. This is often referred to as Biodiversity Loss.  The spaces left to grow wild are under increasing pressure to support this dwindling biodiversity. The repetitively grassed urban spaces with single species, short-height grass lawns produce little food, and no shelter or protection, for any other creatures. For decades society has continued to urbanise more and more rural spaces without changing the design brief for a better environmental balance. 

Households spend time and money feeding, watering, and cutting crops that they can't eat and don't use. Historically the large front lawns belonging to the rich were kept neat and short to display the owner's extreme wealth but they didn't use grass. Although there are over 4,000 varieties of grasses it was low, and slow, growing thyme with chamomile and clover mixed in that formed the original lawns of the mansion estates. Before the advent of the mechanical lawnmower in the 1830s either cattle would graze the display or labourers would spend hours cutting it with scythes. 

Thanks to the wealthy games of golf we now have lush green soft-leaf low grasses, and football helped create hardwearing varieties. Grasses engineered for performance established a multi-billion euro worldwide business replicating this in our homes. Even clover once appeared in lawn seed mixes as a cheaper 'filler' but this was later marketed alongside every other lawn flower as being weeds.

The housing estate developer specifies grass because it has 'curb appeal', is family-friendly, creates flexible use spaces, and it quickly covers the bare ground. Lawns can be grown in fields, arrive at building sites on the back of trucks, and easily unrolled to create instant lawns. Seeded over vast areas grasses quickly establish public green spaces within weeks.

• No lawnmower needed: Red creeping thyme stays low to the ground (2–4 inches), eliminating the need for frequent mowing.

• Drought-tolerant: It requires far less water than grass, especially once established.

• Minimal fertilization: It thrives in poor soils without the need for chemical fertilizers.

• • Beautiful blooms: Produces vibrant reddish-pink flowers in summer, adding seasonal color.

  • Fragrant foliage: Releases a pleasant, herbal scent when walked on.

• • Attracts bees and butterflies, helping support local ecosystems and biodiversity.

• • Tolerates light foot traffic: Suitable for paths or low-use lawn areas.

  • Resistant to pests and disease, reducing the need for chemical treatments.

• No need for herbicides: It crowds out many weeds naturally.

• Reduces carbon footprint: Less mowing and watering means lower energy use and emissions.

• Edible add often used in cooking.

• No pollen like grass: Great for people with grass allergies.