SHRINK Your Lawn Method #3: Erase the Center
by
Evelyn J. Hadden
July 9, 2001
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This newly planted bed will provide a view from inside the house and as well as outside.
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If your lawn stretches away from your house, a flat expanse of green (or, more often, brown),
with nothing to break the monotony, and you're sick of mowing it every week and watering it and
worrying about it for so little reward, imagine something different...
Imagine an enticing mirage floating in that grassy desert...
If you're feeling lazy, imagine a patio--cozy or extensive, shaded by tall trees or open to the
sun, outfitted with chairs and table for outdoor dining. Hear yourself phoning your friends:
"Come on over, we're having drinks on the patio this evening." Try on the smugness of someone
who's making the most of summer.
If you want something with a little more movement, something entertaining, imagine a pond out
there. Lush water plants rustling, dragonflies darting, the water rippling in the breeze. There
you are dozing in a lounge chair. You open one eye to note the graceful heron as it alights in
the shallows.
Perhaps you're itching for more planting space. You've a list of plants you crave, but no place
to put them. Voila! Your mirage becomes an island garden. Maybe it's a formal square with two paths
crossing in the center, planting with sun-loving herbs. Or it's a wooded oasis swathed in cool dark
groundcovers. Perhaps it's a prairie or meadow, curving in a horseshoe around a secluded sitting
area.
Can't decide? How about a combination? Here are just a few enticing possibilities:
When you've designed your new patio, island, or pond destination, consider creating a path to link
it with your house and/or the rest of your garden.
You can create an island bed by smothering
your lawn. If you've opted for a more complex feature, you may need to hire a contractor or
rent machinery to make your mirage real.
Just remember that, though patios and ponds have higher up-front costs than most other
lawn-shrinking options, their long-term maintenance costs (in time and money) can be much lower,
and if you've chosen to install a feature you love, it can transform your free time into a string
of magical moments.
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Build a pond, patio, or island bed in the center of your lawn. You'll create a destination and add visual interest, and you could reduce your lawn by half.
For More Information:
- The Patio Garden presents many
creative ideas accompanied by color photos and explanatory text, including a pond within a patio,
a patio surrounded by a moat, and multi-level decks and patios.
- For guidance in building ponds lined with concrete or flexible liners or installing rigid
preformed ponds, consult Water in the
Garden, a colorful book with many diagrams and helpful tips.
- Garden Paths evaluates many
path materials and the moods they evoke, explains how to lay paths of each material, and provides
a useful list of plants that grow well between pavers in various environments. Most of the information
about paths will apply to patios.
"Erase the Center" is the third in a series of articles on how to SHRINK your lawn. Click the links below to view the others in the series.
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