Dublin’s Trinity College Is Converting Its Front Lawn Into a Wildflower Meadow

Trinity College in Dublin is getting more nature-friendly, converting its former manicured lawn into a beautiful wildflower meadow. The lawn, at the college’s entrance, was removed earlier this week and replaced by a meadow that will bloom with wildflowers next spring.

The conversion was the result of a February vote, which polled Trinity’s staff, students, and members of the public, on whether or not the college should replace the lawn with wildflowers. The answer was a resounding yes as 90 percent of the 13,850 votes were in favor of the change.

The flowers will include native Irish annuals and perennials, and feature bulbs and rhizomatous plants like wood anemones.

According to professor John Parnell, the chair of Trinity’s grounds and gardens committee, “The meadows will flower from spring to autumn and be left untouched over the winter months when pollinating insects, such as butterflies, hoverflies and bees, are not active. The green space outside our iconic Front Gate may look a little less tidy than it once did but will be more colourful and serve as a constant reminder of what nature looks like while underlining the increasingly important role we all have in protecting our environment.”

The goal of the project is to create space for nature in urban areas and increase the range of plant species available for pollinators.