Gardening
We're Rethinking Our Lawn Design (& You Should, Too)
And our entire backyards, for that matter.
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2 Comments
M
May 13, 2022
Excellent piece that makes me wish I had a lawn to rethink! I'd be interested in a follow up of images that show this approach put to use.
Another perk of a smaller, more use-focused grass area: you can use an old-school rotary lawn mower easily and avoid the sound and gas. They're fun.
Another perk of a smaller, more use-focused grass area: you can use an old-school rotary lawn mower easily and avoid the sound and gas. They're fun.
Smaug
May 13, 2022
I rechristened my lawn areas as vernal meadows a while back- lawns have become pretty much out of the question in California, so I decided on an experiment with letting the species that survived without watering go to seed. Mixed results so far, the species I really wanted seems quite reluctant to make seeds, but away we go.
There are some downsides to this- the long grass can protect rodents, a real problem if you're near open spaces, and walking across when grasses are seeding can be unpleasant. So far as I know, grasses are wind pollinated- a lot of bugs find something to interest them there, but the usual bees and such don't seem interested. I can't replace the lawns- gophers coming in from all around my perimeter make new plantings very difficult, but I grow a lot of plants in containers that are slowly taking over the space.
This thing about "native" plants needs some thinking; Native plantings out west have been a thing for some time, and I was doing a lot of it before it became really popular, but what is a native? California has habitats from alpine to high desert, with near infinite stops between; plants don't really care about political boundaries, so what to consider "native" isn't at all clear cut. Native plants in my immediate area are pretty much scrub oaks and some very vigorous grasses, along with some very invasive weed species, some of them imports-not ideal for making a garden. Plants from other California zones mostly are adapted to summer drought- as are plants from similar climates around the world- but their needs are otherwise quite diverse, and they scarce qualify as native to this area.
There are some downsides to this- the long grass can protect rodents, a real problem if you're near open spaces, and walking across when grasses are seeding can be unpleasant. So far as I know, grasses are wind pollinated- a lot of bugs find something to interest them there, but the usual bees and such don't seem interested. I can't replace the lawns- gophers coming in from all around my perimeter make new plantings very difficult, but I grow a lot of plants in containers that are slowly taking over the space.
This thing about "native" plants needs some thinking; Native plantings out west have been a thing for some time, and I was doing a lot of it before it became really popular, but what is a native? California has habitats from alpine to high desert, with near infinite stops between; plants don't really care about political boundaries, so what to consider "native" isn't at all clear cut. Native plants in my immediate area are pretty much scrub oaks and some very vigorous grasses, along with some very invasive weed species, some of them imports-not ideal for making a garden. Plants from other California zones mostly are adapted to summer drought- as are plants from similar climates around the world- but their needs are otherwise quite diverse, and they scarce qualify as native to this area.
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