I hate lawn grasses with a passion and I'm always looking for ways to get rid of mine. This book is great inspiration for anti-lawn yards, including photos from over 50 different yards in different climates from homeowners with different needs and taste. All of the yards look beautiful, and it's great to see how people craft outdoor living spaces without the conventional American Lawn. The chapters include design inspirations from different styles of gardens (shade gardens, prairie gardens, play areas, patios, ponds, xeriscaping, edible gardens, etc), advice on how to design and build your own "no-mow yard," and plant lists to help you choose what to place where. Overall, I am not sure that this book had a lot of new information for me and I wished the photos were brighter than the matte printing allowed for. There is a lot of inspiration here for someone starting to think about eliminating their lawnmower, and it's worth flipping through for the diversity of the gardens. The carefree look of many of these gardens gives the reader a calm, peaceful feeling. The natural biodiversity of a garden that isn't full of artificial turf grass and chemicals is, to me, a no-brainer. I haven't wasted much time on fertilizing and watering lawns, nor have I sown much grass seed, but I have retained and mowed wide swaths of green that do not give as much interest as gardens. On each of my properties I have limited the grass lawns with patios, decks, and gardens, but this concept makes me want to expand beyond that to have mostly garden and, perhaps, a small swath of mowed green as a path. My husband loves a lawn, but I might be able to persuade him with this book.
What do You think about Beautiful No-Mow Yards: 50 Amazing Lawn Alternatives (2012)?
