She imagined the meadows set forever in pink and yellow and white, like cloisonné enamel work, with flocks of goldfinches and high-stepping deer, hares hiding low and foxes making tracks in the dark. They would not mow at high summer, leave the wild things alone. They could let saplings grow here and there and become trees, let the woodland spead and step prettily among the flowers. Some said without a cut, bramble would smother everything, an unholy mess. Others said it wouldn’t. Sometimes, she decided, the only thing to do is follow the dream and see what happens.
Jane Dougherty Writes 
It sounds like a good idea. Beautiful photos.
I love Redmond sniffing. He looks like a dog from an old tapestry.
We’re seriously considering letting it go without mowing this year. It’s a bit daunting though. Some sources say the meadow has to be mown or the eco-system will change and we won’t get the same flowers. The farmer neighbour though says it won’t change anything. I’d just be pleased not to have those engines on the place. In theory, they could set the blades high so baby hares and other small animals wouldn’t get caught, but they never do. They cut as low as possible.
It would be lovely to let the dogs loose, but there’s too much wildlife and the instinct to chase it is far stronger than any notion of ‘obedience’ they have.
Well, good luck with whatever you decide. I don’t know anything about it.
I’m sure you’re right about the dogs. 🙂
Just come back from a walk and had to wait for a hare to stop fooling around in the lane. The dogs were very keen to follow its tracks back into the meadow so I think it/she might have left babies somewhere in there.
That sounds so funny, “fooling around in the lane.”
My husband told me the other night that he was watching three rabbits play in the yard. (He goes outside to smoke. )
I wondered if it was a female had been to feed her babies in the meadow and was racing about back and forth to leave a track that would be difficult to follow.
You’d wonder that animals ever had the time or the energy to play, but they do!
That could be. I know mother deer purposely move away from their young if they think there’s a threat.
Animals definitely play!
That’s true. Both.
I love all the shades of green! 🌿
Everything is very lush at present!
I always enjoy the different shades of green. It’s beautiful!
No two exactly the same.
Dreaming
We’ll see how it goes 🙂
It’s hard to know what nature will do with land that’s already been tampered with. But worth finding out I think. Lush is exactly the right word. (K)
It’s hard to know what makes some flowers grow and not others. Is it the fact of cutting everything back, including the tall fast-growing things? Or will we get different tougher plants move in because growing conditions will be more competitive? We’ll never know until we try, I suppose.
I’m sure weather conditions matter also, along with the local animal population. All intertwined.