Experiment with meadow grass lawns

This year, the central city district is trying a new way of maintaining green areas in selected locations, especially in parks. The resulting meadow grass lawns are mowed only twice a year.

Various species of plants and insects that were common in the past are slowly disappearing from our environment. This is also due to the urban way of maintaining green areas, which means cutting the lawn six times a year.

“Mowing the lawn dries the surface and destroys the natural home of a large number of animals, and prevents many plants from growing. This significantly reduces biodiversity, leaving only a few resilient species in the city which can withstand such treatment. That is why we want to create smaller trial areas this year, meadows of sorts where we will cut the grass short only twice a year and watch which species of plants, beetles and butterflies gradually return”, explains Rostislav Řeha, deputy mayor of Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz.

The areas were carefully selected.  These are mainly parts of parks that will be visibly marked with signs, with a clearly visible transition between the meadow and the remaining green areas.

“Our meadows will normally be passable, only the grass will be higher. We also know of potential concerns of allergic persons that the higher grass with many flowers might cause them trouble. In reality, however, allergy sufferers are much more affected by a short-cut lawn, which is a frequent source of mites and fungi”, adds Rostislav Řeha.

Meadow lawns can be found in Komenský Park, in the Milada Horáková Park, near the Ostrava-střed railway station or near the Park INN hotel on Hornopolní Street. You can find all locations in the map HERE. The entire experiment will be evaluated at the end of the year.

Source: City district press release