Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The sun may have (thankfully) set on the British Empire but not on its most successful invention.


It is often said that a lawn makes a good foreground but German garden designer Petra Pelz has got other ideas.

A recent post by a colleague on Gardening GoneWild (Tovah Martin) about planting up her lawn with plants rather than the heavily-shorn green stuff deals with what history may yet record as one of the great shifts in garden culture. Here I would like to take a hard look at this green tyrant and alternatives to it. Read on....


3 comments:

Rosie@leavesnbloom said...

I would love to get rid of my back lawn but was always afraid that if I should try to sell the house that it might put off potential purchasers especially if they had children. Speaking from experience my older ones haven't played on the lawn for years.

So good to find that you have a blog Noel. I'm an avid reader of you books and a fan of Piet Oudolf. His photos are inspiring.

Sonia said...

Yes, I had the same problem and ended up with a very small patch of very well kept lawn with a lot of decking and large borders. I cant help but think I could to better. Some of those photos are very inspiring though. Thanks a lot Noel.

Cally said...

My own garden is lawnless and for those I garden for I cunningly shrink them a few feet in every direction each year. My best friend's lawn is now a 2ft wide winding path and I couldn't be happier that he has let me get away with that. Here's to lawn only when and where it's genuinely needed and plants everywhere else.