Jarno Coone couldn’t be prouder of his lawn.
Sure, it doesn’t have perfectly manicured hedges, or lush, green grass. Some would even say its ugly. Really ugly.
You could even call it the World’s Ugliest Lawn, and you’d be right.
The Kyneton local has been crowned the winner for the 2025 World’s Ugliest Lawn, a global competition that preaches water conservation and sustainability by changing the norm for green lawns.
Jarno submitted his lawn photos on Instagram through the #worldsugliestlawn for the second time, finally taking the crown.
He believes he won due to his own water conservation in his yard.
By day, Jarno is a property manager at Candlebark school, but his own prized lawn hasn’t been watered in a decade. The mower sits covered in dust and weeds in his backyard. It’s wild, unruly, and according to the judges of the competition, it looks like lice-filled kids’ hair.
But it does take some serious dedication (and not a lot of watering) to keep his lawn looking its worst, and to keep it a safe haven full of natives for plenty of local animals.
“I’ve got some native grasses, and they’re the longer ones in there, so that’s why I’m letting them go to seed and I take the non-natives down a bit and control them … and the benefit is if I let it go, then it’s great for insects,” Jarno said.
“We get a lot of butterflies that come for long grass and nettles … and we have microbats that circle around here at night-time.
“I do try and cut it down a bit, sometimes brush cutting, but I sort of try and keep it managed … so I don’t upset the neighbours, although there’s been a couple of comments that there’ll be heaps of snakes in my yard.”
Snakes need a water source though, according to Jarno, so he reckons his neighbours should be pretty safe from snakes.
Jarno said he entered the competition for its sustainability message.
“I think people place too much emphasis on what things look like and cleaning up, and not enough emphasis on what is happening within nature, what are those things growing, what function do they perform and what benefit do they give,” he said.
