On St. Patrick’s Day:
Did you know the shamrock used to be easy find in suburbia, but now it’s not?
The shamrock is one of two species: lesser clover (Trifolium dubium) or white clover (Trifolium repens). We don’t have much lesser clover in the U.S. but we used to have lots of white clover. You could find it in any lawn.
Fifty years ago white clover was mixed into every bag of grass seed because it grows well in poor soil, is drought-tolerant, immune to diseases, unattractive to common turf insects, and it makes its own fertilizer. Clover sets nitrogen in nodules on its roots, thus adding nitrogen to the soil.
White clover was so common that as a child I searched our lawn for lucky four leaf clovers and found them!
With all these advantages, what happened?
Broad-leaf weed killers came into use. Intended to kill dandelions, English plantain, etc. these chemicals kill white clover, too. Ever since the weed killers took over white clover hasn’t been mixed with grass seed. Not for a very long time.
Good luck finding a four-leaf clover today.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals)
p.s. Info on clover’s advantages is from: Grow a Patch of Clover to Rejuvenate Your Lawn.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you, too! I used to try to find 4 leaf clovers, but couldn’t. You were apparently one of the people who could, and I was always jealous of your type! ?
We have it in our yard. Several years ago, after seeing a rabbit hop through grass that had just been sprayed with weedkiller, we decided we would rather have the wildlife than a perfect lawn. The white clover blossoms are a big hit with rabbits and bees.
Clover has another advantage: a food source for bees and other pollinators. I have scattered white clover liberally on my lawn, and it’s popular all summer long. When I mow I cut off most of the blossoms, but it soon puts out new ones.
Actually, red clover would be better, but that is not a useful lawn plant. If you have some natural, weedy corners in your yard, toss in a handful of red clover. The bees will thank you.
It’s so sad how clover has disappeared from lawns. I remember lots of it in my parents’ lawn when I was little. We used to hunt for the four leaf clovers also…I do think we found a few over the years. It does attract the bees though. Horse pastures are often filled with clover, and I remember that one summer my mare had a swollen eyelid 2 or 3 times, which the vet thought was from bee stings.