Yorkshire fog

How to recognise it

Habit

Loose to dense tuft of 30–80 cm, without creeping rhizomes.

Leaf

Grey-green, flat, 4–10 mm wide and softly velvety-hairy on both sides. The leaf sheaths at the base have pinkish-purple stripes.

Flower

Soft, dense panicle of 5–15 cm, white, pale green or pinkish purple, from June to August; after flowering it opens out a little and turns greyish.

Stem

The stems and nodes are softly hairy too.

Fruit/Seed

Small seeds in pale husks, with a short hooked awn that stays hidden inside the spikelet.

Confusion with

Creeping soft-grass has creeping rhizomes, less hairy leaves and stems that only have a beard of hairs at the nodes; its awns stick out of the spikelet.

Flowering: June–August · Pruning: June and September

Why grow it?

• The main food plant of the small skipper, a little orange butterfly of flower-rich grassland.
• Caterpillars of other grassland butterflies, such as the meadow brown and the speckled wood, also eat grasses like Yorkshire fog.
• In June its soft panicles turn pink and white, lovely against the light and in a wild bouquet.
• The seed is food for finches, sparrows and other seed-eaters.
• An easy native grass that forms a green sward even on wet and somewhat acid soil.

Yorkshire fog: where does it grow best?

• In the wild: pastures and hay meadows, roadside verges, ditch banks, rough ground, woodland clearings and wasteland.
• Sun to partial shade.
• Moist to wet, moderately fertile soil; also grows on acid and poor soil.
• In the garden: in a natural meadow, beside a pond or in a wild corner. In a flower meadow on rich soil you keep it in check by mowing and removing the cuttings.

Goes well with

• Meadow buttercup: Glossy yellow flowers in May–June in damp meadows.
• Ragged robin: Pink, ragged flowers on wet soil.
• Red clover: For bumblebees and bees in the same meadow.
• Oxeye daisy: White flowers beside the pink and white panicles.
• Cuckooflower: Lilac flowers in April and a food plant of the orange-tip.

Yorkshire fog: when and how to plant it?

1. Usually you do not need to sow it: it appears by itself in a garden that is mown less often.
2. If you do want to sow it, use a mix of native grasses and wild flowers and sow in September–October or March–April.
3. Prepare a fine, weed-free seedbed, sow thinly and rake the seed in lightly.
4. Keep the seedbed moist until germination, after 1–3 weeks.
5. On rich soil, choose a poorer-soil mix without Yorkshire fog: it will turn up by itself anyway.
6. Never take turf or plants from verges or nature reserves; buy seed of native origin.

Care

Watering

Not needed.

Feeding

Never: on fertile soil it becomes dominant and crowds out flowers.

Mowing

Mow as a hay meadow at the end of June and in September and remove the cuttings. This lowers soil fertility and gives flowers more room.

Spreading

If it takes up too much space, mow in early June for a few years, before it sets seed.

Refuge strip

Leave a small strip uncut until the following spring: the young caterpillars of the small skipper overwinter in the tufts.

Tip: Leave a strip half a metre wide along your meadow or hedge uncut until spring: the small skipper caterpillars can then survive the winter in the Yorkshire fog tufts.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: June and September.

When: At the end of June and again in September, like a hay meadow.

How:

• Mow at 5–10 cm with a scythe, brush cutter or bar mower.
• Let the cuttings dry for a few days, then remove them.
• Always leave a strip standing: young small skipper caterpillars overwinter in the leaf sheaths of the tufts.

Caution: Do not cut the whole meadow short in autumn: the overwintering caterpillars would disappear with it.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed

Ripens in July–August and drops readily; it self-seeds easily on open ground.

Division

In spring or autumn, dig up a tuft and split it into pieces.

Yorkshire fog: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −30 °C.

• The leaves stay largely green; older leaves turn grey.
• Fully hardy, to about −30 °C.
• Caterpillars of skippers and browns, and many other insects, overwinter in the tufts.

Diseases and pests

• Too dominant: On rich, moist soil it can take over a meadow. Mowing twice a year and removing the cuttings lowers soil fertility.
• Seedlings in borders: It self-seeds into borders and vegetable beds. Weed out young tufts before they set seed.
• Hay fever: Its pollen can cause hay fever in sensitive people in June–July.
• Little grazed: Animals are less keen on it because of its hairs, so it can increase in a horse paddock. Topping the paddock helps.

Through the year

• March: Sowing a meadow is possible.
• May: The tufts grow quickly. Skipper caterpillars feed on the leaves.
• June: Flowering starts with pink and white panicles. First mowing at the end of June.
• July: Flowering. Small skippers are on the wing.
• August: Seed ripens and drops.
• September: Second mowing, remove the cuttings. Leave a strip standing.
• October: Sow a meadow.
• December: Resting; caterpillars overwinter in the tufts.

Did you know?

• Lanatus means ‘woolly’, after the soft hairs covering the whole plant.
• The name Yorkshire fog probably comes from the old word ‘fog’ for long, rough grass left standing into winter.
• In Australia and New Zealand, where it was introduced, it is regarded as a troublesome weed.