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Is your group seeking a fun, energetic, and educational speaker?

"Design Ideas to Shrink your Lawn" is a colorful digital slideshow and talk by Evelyn J. Hadden, editor of LessLawn and author of the award-winning book Shrink Your Lawn: Design ideas for any landscape.

Explore the possibilities of less lawn with award-winning author Evelyn J. Hadden! In her colorful presentation "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" you'll encounter fresh ideas from large-scale (Stroll Gardens, Woodland Gardens, Lawnless Front Gardens) to small (Welcome Gardens, Herb Gardens, Island Beds), and you'll return to your own yard with a renewed sense of its possibilities.

Are you interested in using landscaping to lower your heating and cooling costs? What about different ways to catch and soak up runoff before it creates pooling, erosion, and other problems? Want to plant some edibles, create more privacy, add habitat for birds or butterflies? Or do you just want a dose of inspiration to help you design a new garden area?

Learn different strategies for designing lawns out of your landscape, including:
  • Where to start if your family is uncertain about shrinking the lawn,
  • How to add outdoor "rooms" and what they get you,
  • Native plants, hardscapes, and other low-maintenance elements,
  • Functional plantings that solve problems and provide services, and
  • Many models for lawnless landscapes.

Hadden introduces many strategies rather than supplying detailed instruction in any particular one. For instance, she won't take you step-by-step through the process of building a Rain Garden or give you a list of appropriate plants. Instead she describes Rain Gardens and how you might use them, showing real-life examples. You'll also see examples of Swale Gardens, Shoreline Buffers, different styles of Slope Gardens, and other ideas that can address runoff depending on your site, your situation, and your preferences.

Across the country, people are gaining variety, year-round interest, birds and butterflies, and relief from the routines of mowing and watering. Let their landscaping ideas inspire you!

Schedule a talk with Evelyn Hadden.

"Excellent variety of ideas for ways to replace grass - neat focus on moods created."

"So inspiring! Got great ideas for addressing several problem areas."

lawnless front yards

"Fun topic. Enthusiastic speaker."

" Everyone LOVED your presentation - I think we'll have some lawns shrinking all over T.C. this summer thanks to you. Looking forward to your return visit."

Note from Evelyn Hadden: This talk has a "perennial" name, but it is frequently updated with new ideas, photos, and resources and will be customized to your desired length and audience.


"Our club members really enjoyed your talk, and I think they came away with lots of good ideas."

"Very passionate! Great inspiration."

"All the feedback that I have gotten has been positive. Everyone enjoyed your presentation!"

"Lots of thought provoking ideas."

"Your presentation was top notch."

Speaking & Booksigning Schedule
2010

  • January 21 "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" Ð Big Woods Garden Club, Watertown, MN - 6:30pm

  • February 17 "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" - Mahtomedi Garden Club, District Education Building, Mahtomedi, MN - 6:30pm

  • February 27 "Creating Habitat for Humans and Other Species" - Design With Nature Conference, Roseville, MN Ð 3:15pm

  • March 23 "Design Ideas for Eco-friendly Gardens" - MN State Horticultural Society NEW building, 2705 Lincoln Drive, St Paul, MN - 6:30-8pm. Call 800-676-6747 x 211 to register.

  • March 30 "Design a Lawnless Garden" - MN State Horticultural Society NEW building, 2705 Lincoln Drive, St Paul, MN - 6:30-8pm. Call 800-676-6747 x 211 to register.

  • April 12 "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" - Dakota County Heritage Library, Lakeville, MN - 7pm

  • April 28 "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" - Morris Public Library, Morris, MN Ð 6:30pm

  • May 10 "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" Ð Minnetonka Garden Club, Minnetonka Community Center, Minnetonka, MN - 1pm

  • May 19 "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" Ð Northern Horticulture Club, Roseville City Hall Complex, old Fire Station building, Roseville, MN - 7pm

  • June 15 "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" Ð Woodland Dunes Nature Center, Two Rivers, WI Ð 6:30pm

  • June 19 "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" Ð DeGraaf Nature Center, Holland, MI - 2pm

  • June 20 "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" Ð Sarett Nature Center, Benton Harbor, MI - 3pm

  • June 22 "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" Ð Suttons Bay, MI - 6pm (sponsored by Leelanau MSU Extension Master Gardener Program)

  • June 23 "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" - Emmet County Fairgrounds Community Center, Petoskey, MI - 7pm (sponsored by Emmet County MSU Extension Master Gardener Program)

  • June 26 "Design Ideas to Shrink Your Lawn" - Hidden Lake Gardens, Tipton, MI Ð 10am

2009


Evelyn Hadden has been writing and publishing information about naturalistic landscaping since 2001, when she started LessLawn.com. In her first book, Apprentice to a Garden, she writes about the joys, challenges, and life lessons she experienced while converting a small urban lawn into a naturalistic landscape. Her recent book Shrink Your Lawn: Design ideas for any landscape is an expanded version of the "Design Ideas" talk and won a silver medal from Independent Publisher's 2009 Living Now Book Awards. She is one of the nine members of the new national Lawn Reform Coalition, a resource for ecologically sound lawns and lawn alternatives.

See media kit for a more detailed bio, print-quality photos, and a "sneak peak" at Hadden's slideshow.


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