Black medick                   Daisy                         Chamomile                Field wood-rush                Selfheal   
Flowers for lawns
 
As the Sheffield BUGS project established, lots of other plant species as well as grasses live in domestic lawns, but if they are kept close-mown, you often don't realise they are there.  Another recent citizen science survey by Plantlife of 5000 1m square lawn quadrats found 203 species in total.
 
The plants  below are selected as flowers that can reasonably be expected to do well if established into an established lawn, provided the grass isn't over-fertilised and growing rampant.  They are all short and look well on a typically mown lawn. Lawn plants have to be tough enough to withstand a certain amount of trampling, and many of them grow their leaves as a flat rosette on the ground surface.  Others such as birds-foot trefoil can twine up through grass and will cope with a longer sward. For more background have a look at our myths pages on lawns and fertility.  Plants which thrive better in longer grass are covered in our page on meadow flowers here.
 
 
 
 
  Birds-foot trefoil          Mouse-ear hawkweed             Cowslip                        Speedwells            Lesser celandine               
(also a sun plant)                                              (also a sun plant)                                              (also a shade plant)   
                                
           Clovers                  Creeping Jenny           
  
Lawn flowers
 
To read more about these species click on the picture or the link below.
On the left is a photo of a group of cowslips which are growing on a heavily walked path in a meadow.  Because the plants' leaves are in a rosette closely pressed to the ground, they have survived and spread despite quite heavy trampling.  The flowers are just appearing, and when fully emerged, people see them and avoid walking over them.
On the left is a photo of a group of cowslips which are growing on a heavily walked path in a meadow.  Because the plants' leaves are in a rosette closely pressed to the ground, they have survived and spread despite quite heavy trampling.  The flowers are just appearing, and when fully emerged, people see them and avoid walking over them.
Lawn flowers
 
To read more about these species click on the picture or the link below.
Flowers for lawns and meadows
 
As the Sheffield BUGS project established, lots of other plant species as well as grasses live in domestic lawns, but if they are kept close-mown, you often don't realise they are there.  Another recent citizen science survey by Plantlife of 5000 1m square lawn quadrats found 203 species in total.
 
The plants  below are selected as flowers that can reasonably be expected to do well if established into an established lawn, provided the grass isn't over-fertilised and growing rampant.  They are all short and look well on a typically mown lawn. Lawn plants have to be tough enough to withstand a certain amount of trampling, and many of them grow their leaves as a flat rosette on the ground surface.  Others such as birds-foot trefoil can twine up through grass and will cope with a longer sward. For more background have a look at our myths pages on lawns and fertility.  Plants which thrive better in longer grass are covered in our page on meadow flowers here.
 
 
 
 
      Lesser celandine                     Clovers                     Creeping Jenny           
     (also a shade plant)
      Mouse-ear hawkweed               Cowslip                      Speedwells         
                                                   (also a sun plant)      
          Field wood-rush                Selfheal                     Birds-foot trefoil                                                                                                                 (also a sun plant)
         Blackmedick                         Daisy                           Chamomile   
Cat's ear
Cat's ear
           Garden Wildplants
        Garden Wildplants