Norway: Siltanews – News Desk
A new trend has been spreading around Norway, nurtured this spring by unusually warm temperatures. It’s become fashionable to let lawns grow, and especially all the dandelions, clover and weeds that quickly pop up.
Biggest and rather conservative newspaper took a recent break from chiding politicians or pontificating about other pressing matters of public interest. It was time to explain why, all over the national capital and not least around many public buildings, lawns aren’t being tended this spring.
“Bumblebees and butterflies need flowers to land on, not closely-clipped lawns,” The newspaper went on to tell its readers: “Don’t cut your grass in May.”
It was following up on recent pleas from the environmental organization WWF and other groups that think bees should be allowed to buzz and especially pollinate in peace. Spring is a growing season, and in Norway there’s a natural abundance of wildflowers that seem to appear earlier and earlier. Free of robot lawnmowers that have become so popular in an affluent country like Norway.
State meteorologists have also reported unusually high temperatures in Southern Norway this year which they believe are tied to climate change. March temperatures were more than 2 degrees higher than normal, they report, while April was as much as 2-4 degrees warmer.
Trees have also blossomed much earlier than normal, by as much as three weeks for the cherry trees. Apple growers in Hardanger are expecting an early harvest, but also fearing frost at night. Among flowers, the rhododendrons that usually don’t bloom until early June have already sprung out around Oslo. Lilac is starting to bloom too.