Timothy

How to recognise it

Growth habit

Perennial grass in loose tufts, 40–120 cm tall, with upright stems.

Leaf

Flat, 3–9 mm wide, grey-green to green and slightly rough. The ligule is long, 2–6 mm, papery and blunt.

Flower

Dense, cylindrical spike-like panicle 6–15 cm long and 6–10 mm thick, from June to August. Each spikelet has two short, stiff points, which make the spike feel rough and bristly.

Stem

Upright and smooth; the lowest node is often swollen into a small bulb.

Roots

Fibrous roots in a loose tuft, without long runners.

Confusion with

Meadow foxtail flowers from April to June and has a soft, fluffy spike with protruding fine awns: run your fingers over the spike and foxtail feels soft while timothy feels rough. Smaller cat’s-tail is finer and has a shorter spike.

Flowering: June–August · Pruning: July and September

Why grow it?

• Food plant for the caterpillars of grassland butterflies such as the small skipper.
• The seeds feed sparrows, finches and buntings in late summer.
• The sturdy spikes stay standing into autumn and give structure to a hay meadow.
• One of the best hay grasses for horses: palatable, nourishing and sown for centuries.
• Grows well on moist and heavy soil, where other meadow grasses struggle more.
• Easy to recognise: an ideal grass for teaching children to identify grasses.

Timothy: where does it grow best?

• In the wild in hay meadows, pastures, road verges, on dykes and along field edges.
• Moisture-retentive, fairly fertile soil: loam, clay or humus-rich sand; it also tolerates heavy and somewhat wetter soil.
• Full sun; in shade it flowers poorly.
• In the garden: in a flower-rich hay meadow, a rough meadow or a strip along a path that you cut only twice a year.

Goes well with

• Oxeye daisy: White flowers in May–June among the grasses of a hay meadow.
• Red clover: Pink flower heads for bumblebees; with timothy a classic hay mixture.
• Common knapweed: Purple flowers in summer, a top plant for butterflies and bees in a meadow.
• Meadow vetchling: Yellow pea flowers that clamber up between the grass stems.

Timothy: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy seed of native origin from a seed merchant or wild plant nursery, or as part of a hay meadow mixture. Never take plants from a verge or from the wild.
2. Sow in September–October or in April, on bare, finely prepared soil.
3. Sow the seed thinly, together with wild flower seed, and firm it in: do not rake it in deeply, as the seed is small.
4. Keep the soil moist until the seedlings are up; that takes one to three weeks.
5. Plant pot-grown plants in spring or autumn, 30 cm apart.

Care

Water

No longer needed after germination: the grass roots deeply enough.

Feeding

Not needed in a flower-rich meadow: with fertiliser the grasses crowd out the flowers.

Mowing

Cut a hay meadow twice a year: from mid-July, when most flowers have set seed, and in September. Remove the cuttings each time.

Let seed fall

Leave the hay on the ground for a few days so the seeds can drop out.

Rotational cutting

Leave 10–20 % uncut each time as shelter for insects; cut that strip the following year.

Tip: Learn to tell timothy from foxtail with the finger test: run your fingers upwards over the spike. Rough and bristly is timothy; soft as a cat’s tail is foxtail.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: July and September.

When: First cut from mid-July, second cut in September.

How:

• Cut with a scythe, brush cutter or bar mower at 5–10 cm.
• Let the hay dry on the ground for a few days, turn it and then remove it.
• Leave a strip standing until the following year: the stems and tufts are winter quarters for insects.
• In a lawn that you rarely mow, you can leave an island of uncut grass where timothy can come into flower.

Caution: Before cutting, check the long grass for hedgehogs, toads or young birds, and cut from the centre outwards so that animals can escape.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed

Sow in September–October or in April. In a meadow, let the spikes ripen and the hay dry in the field: it then seeds itself.

Division

In spring you can cut a clump into pieces with a spade and replant them.

Timothy: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −30 °C.

• The leaves die back for the most part in winter, but the tuft stays alive and grows away again in March.
• Very hardy, even in severe winters.
• Uncut strips with dry spikes shelter overwintering insects and spiders.

Diseases and pests

• Hay fever: Its pollen is a major cause of hay fever in June–July. Do not grow it right next to a patio or bedroom window if someone is sensitive.
• Too lush: On rich soil the grasses become too dominant. Cut twice a year and remove the cuttings.
• Rust: Brown or orange powder on the leaves in late summer. Not serious: cut and remove.
• Flattened stems: On soil that is too rich or after heavy rain, the stems fall over. Do not feed and cut in good time.

Through the year

• March: New leaves appear.
• April: Sow on bare soil.
• May: The stems shoot up.
• June: Flowering begins: the spikes appear.
• July: Full flower. From mid-July, cut the hay meadow and leave the hay on the ground for a few days.
• August: Last flowers on uncut strips. The seed ripens.
• September: Second cut, remove the cuttings. Sow.
• October: Sow. Leave an uncut strip standing.
• December: Rest. Dry spikes in the uncut strips.

Did you know?

• Timothy is named after the American farmer Timothy Hanson, who spread it as a hay grass in the American colonies around 1720.
• Phleum comes from phleos, an old Greek plant name; pratense means ‘of meadows’.
• The swollen stem base is a small larder: the grass stores reserves in it and so grows back quickly after cutting.