Valentine's Day Tribute to Lawn Alternatives

A Valentine's Day Tribute to Lawn Alternatives

BLOG TOUR - February 14, 2012

To celebrate the publication of Beautiful No-Mow Yards, Timber Press and author Evelyn Hadden invited a few of our favorite garden writers to compose anti-valentines to the lawn and/or love letters to lawn alternatives.

Silly or serious, essay or rhyme, this communal writing event is meant to raise awareness about the many rewarding alternatives to picture-perfect, water-guzzling, lifeless lawns. No folks, our acres of unused and demanding lawns are NOT our valentines... but a meadow, a natural play area, a pond, a woodland, or even a well-used lawn within a well-loved garden can be.

Here is each writer's unique take on our theme. Enjoy!

Just Say NO: 5 Ways to Break Up With Your Lawn	Debbie Roberts - landscape designer, garden blogger

Book Review: Beautiful No-Mow Yards	Susan Morrison - landscape designer, co-author of Garden Up!

Lawn Love Letters	Saxon Holt - photographer, creator of PhotoBotanic, co-author of The American Meadow Garden

Dear Lawn, I'm Breaking Up With You	Heather Holm - garden blogger, specialist in Midwestern landscape restoration

Lawn Anti-Valentine	Susan Harris - co-founder of GardenRant, founder of the Lawn Reform Coalition

Landscapes That Love Us Back	Evelyn J. Hadden - author of Beautiful No-Mow Yards, founder of LessLawn

A Love Letter to Wildlife	Carole Sevilla Brown - conservation biologist, ecosystem gardener, & founder of team blogs Beautiful Wildlife Gardens and Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens

What Can You Do To Replace Your Lawn?	Carole Sevilla Brown - conservation biologist, ecosystem gardener, & founder of team blogs Beautiful Wildlife Gardens and Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens

Beautiful No-Mow Yards, the ultimate guide to rethinking your yard, showcases dozens of inspiring, eco-friendly alternatives to that demanding (and dare we say boring?) green turf.

There’s a chapter on design inspiration for each of the following: shade gardens, living carpets, prairie and meadow gardens, patios, rain gardens, play areas, ponds, xeric gardens, stroll gardens, edible gardens, and smarter lawns.

Part two of the book shows how to get there: how to convert your lawn to a garden, elements of an eco-friendly garden, maintenance, and making your lawn more self-sufficient.

Part three presents 100 choice ground-layer plants, categorized by their general behavior to help you site and combine them successfully.