Artisan Grass

A beautiful thick sward of all year round, dark green grass, is the goal of many landscapers, greenkeepers and turf professionals across the UK - until now that is…

Artists Ackroyd and Harvey have been creating breath-taking works of art using British Seed Houses A26 So-Green mixture. The award-winning duo has been creating masterpieces by utilising the light sensitivity of chlorophyll in individual blades of grass to create 'sketch like' images. They do this by projecting a large scale negative onto a canvas of grass as it grows.

Richard Brown of British Seed Houses commented, "we have been working with Ackroyd and Harvey for a while now, and realised early on that A26 So-Green was the perfect grass seed mixture for what they wanted. It contains our unique, naturally occurring AberNile perennial ryegrass which has the ability to maintain a dark green colour, even throughout the winter. It's this particular quality that allows the artists to achieve such contrast and definition in their work."

It was the simple act of leaning a ladder against a living, light-sensitive surface that was to first arouse the idea of actually using the green pigment of chlorophyll to make extraordinary photographic images in grass.

Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey recently returned from Llubljana, Slovenia where they exhibited their piece 'On the Field' (pictured) at the 2010 Arts Festival in the city. The piece is an excellent example of the light manipulation technique they use to change the colour of the grass during growth.

The pair also turned heads in 2007 when they covered the exterior walls of London's iconic National Theatre with their piece, 'FlyTower'. AberNile was used to produce a sward of cover on the north and west faces because of its dark green appearance and extreme tolerance to stress.

A popular choice for many prestigious landscaping projects across the world, A26 offers the world's only Stay-green grass. Bred at the BSH funded IBERS breeding facility in Aberystwyth, A26 is naturally suited to the diverse and unpredictable UK weather. Proven by Ackroyd and Harvey to be highly resilient, even

in the most testing conditions, the GM free 'Staygreen' Ryegrass AberNile is the cultivar in the mixture, which ensures a hard wearing and outstandingly green full sward all year round.

Client contact - William Gilbert or Richard Brown - seeds@bshlincoln.co.uk

British Seed Houses, Camp Road, Witham St Hughs, Lincoln, Lincolnshire LN6 9QJ UK

Tel: +44 (0)1522 868714 - Fax: +44 (0)1522 868095 - www.britishseedhouses.com