Rough hawkbit

How to recognise it

Growth habit

Perennial with a flat leaf rosette and one to a few flowering stems 10–50 cm tall, each with a single flower head.

Leaf

Lance-shaped to oblong, 5–20 cm, wavy-toothed to shallowly lobed, roughly hairy on both sides. With a hand lens you can see that many hairs are forked, with two or three points.

Flower

Golden-yellow heads 2.5–4 cm across, made up only of strap-shaped florets; the outer florets are often orange to reddish underneath. The bud nods before it opens.

Stem

Unbranched, leafless and hairy, slightly thickened just below the flower head. Like a dandelion, it contains milky sap.

Fruit/Seed

Brown seeds with a dirty white, feathery pappus that is carried off by the wind.

Confusion with

Dandelion usually has hairless leaves and a hollow, smooth stem. Autumn hawkbit has branched stems with small scales and flowers later. Common cat’s-ear has branched stems and leaves with simple bristly hairs. Rough hawkbit: one head per unbranched stem and densely, roughly hairy leaves.

Flowering: June–September · Pruning: July and September

Why grow it?

• A rich source of pollen and nectar from June to September for honeybees, bumblebees, solitary bees, hoverflies and butterflies.
• Specialist bees such as the pantaloon bee collect their pollen from yellow daisies like this one.
• A typical plant of flower-rich, poor grassland: where it grows, the soil has not been over-fertilised.
• Stays low and tolerates mowing: ideal for a wildflower meadow or a flowering lawn that you mow less often.
• Seed-eating birds such as goldfinches pick the seeds from the clocks in late summer.

Rough hawkbit: where does it grow best?

• In the wild in poor, sunny grassland: chalk and limestone grassland, dykes, road verges, dunes and old hay meadows.
• Full sun; in shade it hardly flowers.
• Poor to moderately fertile soil, preferably chalky or loamy, dry to moderately moist and well drained.
• In the garden: in a wildflower meadow, a poor bank along the drive or a flowering lawn that you only mow a few times a year.

Goes well with

• Oxeye daisy: White and yellow together in a sunny hay meadow, with the same mowing dates.
• Brown knapweed: Purple flower heads at the same time, a top plant for butterflies.
• Bird’s-foot trefoil: A low, yellow pea flower of poor grassland and food plant of the common blue.
• Harebell: Blue bells on the same poor, sunny soil.

Rough hawkbit: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy young plants or seed of native origin from a wildflower nursery, possibly as part of a mix for poor grassland.
2. Sow in September–October or March–April on bare, weed-free and preferably impoverished soil. Sow thinly, press in with a board or roller and barely cover the seed.
3. Keep the seedbed moist for a few weeks until the seedlings are up.
4. Plant plug plants in autumn or spring, 25–30 cm apart, in holes cut in the existing turf; remove some grass around them so they are not smothered straight away.
5. Don’t feed or add compost: on rich soil grass soon crowds it out.
6. Never dig up plants from verges or nature reserves: buy them from a nursery.

Care

Watering

Only during the first growing season in prolonged drought. After that, never: its sturdy roots draw water from deep in the soil.

Feeding

Never. Poor soil keeps the grass short and gives the hawkbit room.

Mowing

Mow it like a hay meadow: a first cut in mid-July and a second in September, removing the cuttings each time.

Impoverishing

On soil that is too rich, mowing two or three times a year for a few years and removing the cuttings takes nutrients out of the soil.

Self-seeding

Leave the cut hay for a few days before removing it, so that ripe seeds can drop out.

Tip: If you want rough hawkbit in your lawn, set the mower high and cut part of the grass only every three to four weeks: the flat rosettes survive that, and you will have yellow flowers for bees all summer.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: July and September.

When: Mow in mid-July and again in September; not in between.

How:

• Cut with a scythe, brushcutter or reciprocating mower at 5–10 cm; the flat rosette is spared.
• Let the hay dry for two or three days so the seed drops, then rake it off.
• Leave an uncut strip at each mowing as a refuge for insects and cut it the next time.
• In a flowering lawn: mow no more than every three to four weeks and set the mower high.

Caution: Don’t leave the cuttings lying: a thatch of dead grass smothers the rosettes and enriches the soil.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed

Collect ripe seed heads in August–September and sow straight away or in spring. Seedlings usually flower from their second year.

Division

Old plants with several rosettes can be carefully divided in March or September; replant the pieces at once and water them.

Rough hawkbit: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −25 °C.

• The flowering stems die off; the leaf rosette stays partly green in mild winters, flat against the ground.
• Fully hardy.
• Going into winter with short vegetation is ideal: the rosette gets light straight away in spring.

Diseases and pests

• Crowded out by grass: On fertile soil the grass grows too vigorously. Impoverish the soil by mowing and removing the cuttings, and never feed.
• Slugs: They eat young seedlings and fresh rosettes. Sow generously or plant sturdy plug plants.
• Weeded out by mistake: It resembles dandelion and cat’s-ear and sometimes disappears during weeding. Learn to recognise its rough, hairy rosette.
• Few flowers: Too much shade or mowing too often. Give it a sunny spot and only mow after the first flush of flowers.

Through the year

• March: Rosettes start growing. Sow on bare, poor soil.
• April: Plant plug plants. Don’t mow.
• May: Flowering stems appear; the buds nod.
• June: Flowering begins. Bees and hoverflies on the flower heads.
• July: Full flower. First cut in mid-July, remove the cuttings.
• August: Second flush of flowers. Collect ripe seed heads.
• September: Last flowers. Second cut and remove the cuttings. Sow.
• October: Sow or plant. The rosettes go into winter.

Did you know?

• Leontodon means ‘lion’s tooth’ in Greek and refers to the toothed leaves, just like the French name for dandelion, dent-de-lion.
• With a hand lens you can see that the leaf hairs are forked, with two or three points: a good feature for telling it apart from other yellow daisies.
• The flower heads close in the evening and in rain, and the buds stay nodding until they open.