Herb Garden Landscaping Articles & Resources

The velvety-green lawn, with its border of tidy foundation plantings, was a late 20th century status symbol. Former GIs returned from World War II and happily armed themselves with the newly-popular gas-and electric-powered mowers to trim the grass surrounding their recently-acquired houses. Their baby boom children romped on the well-tended turf. The lawn care industry grew along with the boomers, fueled by the development of potent herbicides and pesticides. Like wall-to-wall carpets they resembled, lush green lawns eventually covered just about everything in residential neighborhoods.

Now the pendulum has begun to swing the other way. Some homeowners, tired of the endless cycle of growing and mowing, have decided to decrease the size of their lawns, gradually replacing them with shrub and perennial borders. Others install new beds or entire gardens because they want to see flower- and plant-filled "garden rooms" from inside their homes. Rose lover's tear out the turf in the front yard to accommodate the sun-loving plants that would wither in a shady back yard. Some people simply replace grass with gardens to create a three-dimensional manifestation of a personal vision.

Ann Cross began the transition from grass to garden before she began her marriage. "I was digging in the yard while I was engaged," she says. When Mrs. Cross and her husband, Elmo, moved into their Ashland, Virginia, home sixteen years ago, grass was everywhere. Slowly, but surely, the process of lawn reduction has taken place on their four-acre lot. Borders have been widened time and again to make way for more flowers. "We just take the tiller and make another width," says Mrs. Cross.

The grass-to-garden journey continues to the present for the Cross family, which includes two children. Mrs. Cross collects old roses, many of which she starts from cuttings given to her by friends or rescued from old homesteads and other neglected sites. She is especially fond of gallicas, damasks and ramblers.

Roses are not the only salvaged horticultural "antiques" in the Cross garden. The couple has also adopted a variety of boxwoods, old-fashioned daffodils, iris, lilacs and over sixty peonies that were no longer wanted by homeowners or developers intent on breaking ground for new construction.

Mr. Cross has also been bitten by the gardening bug and has taken to planting bulbs all over the property. His wife reveals, "I have to watch him, because he might get the tiller and go over an area where I've already put something in."

The Crosses have no 'master plan' for their garden, but Mrs. Cross says that it is slowly developing into a series of garden rooms. Purple azaleas have been given their own area, and the rose garden is on its way to becoming a more formal 'room.' Perennial borders in back of the house will eventually take the place of much of the rest of the grass, as the family tiller gets additional workouts.

Midge Ingersoll wanted to give her 1 1/2-acre Moorestown, New Jersey, lot "an antique feel" by filling it with specialty gardens and eliminating all but a 20' x 20' expanse of lawn from the property. Now, beds that contain a mix of evergreens, roses, perennials and annuals surround the residual grassy area in front of the colonial-style saltbox house. To achieve a "rustic, rural" look to the back yard, Mrs. Ingersoll installed a kitchen garden and a white garden, together with a pond, waterfall and springhouse. Natural New Jersey sandstone walls, some dry-laid and others mortared, frame the plantings. A berm next to the house has been planted with daylilies. The entire landscape was designed by Mrs. Ingersoll, who is a longtime gardener and Chairman of the Competitive Classes for the Philadelphia Flower Show.

The Ingersolls chose gardens over grass for ecological as well as aesthetic reasons. "Most properties have boring front yards," said Mrs. Ingersoll, who occasionally designs gardens for others. Eliminating a traditional lawn also adds visual interest while creating a healthier environment. "Lawn is non-habitat," she added, emphasizing her belief that ten-to-twenty percent of any property should be left relatively natural and untamed. The Ingersolls, who are also bird lovers, continue to work on the plantings in a woodland area on their property. In the meantime, strategically placed brush piles in the woodland area supply the resident birds with nesting materials.

Midge Ingersoll used ponds, waterfalls and stone walls to give her garden a feeling of maturity. She also allowed moss to cover the rocks in her walls, providing a softer, settled-in look.

When Patty Pechennino began eliminating the lawn from her property six years ago, she had an additional challenge--sloped terrain. Landscapers sculpted a series of terraces, including one that runs the entire length of the front of her Japanese-inspired home. A waterfall also adorns the front, with a pond around the porch. Mature trees were installed to create an established look, and retaining walls, waterfall and steps were created from "huge granite rocks."

When the landscapers had finished, Mrs. Pechennino set to work. She planted a vegetable garden at a high point on the property. "The Berry Garden," in another area, contains raspberries, boysenberries, huckleberries and gooseberries. A natural glen is planted with an assortment of shade-loving plants, including hellebores, ferns, fuschias, azaleas and primroses.

The Tacoma woman has not neglected sun-loving specimens. A rose garden dominates one terrace, and the old climber 'Cecile Brunner' winds its way along the patio fence. A brand new cutting garden will contain an assortment of dahlias, gladiolas, zinnias and petunias.

Mrs. Pechennino, a self-taught gardener, says that the biggest challenge she faced as she established gardens on the property was the composition of the soil beneath it. "There are no rocks, but we have both red and blue clay soil," she adds. Frequent and generous soil amendment has helped to lighten the clay and provide better conditions for the vast array of plants.

The process of going from grass to gardens can be gradual and relatively simple--a matter of expanding existing beds little by little. Or, as in the case of Midge Ingersoll and Patty Pechennino, it can be substantially more involved. If you lack the time or expertise to plant your own cranesbills, lay a bluestone walk, or install terraces, it's important to locate a garden designer or landscaper whose ideas match your own. Mrs. Pechennino found a perfect match when she hired the landscape designer who did the initial work on her property. "He had spent time in Japan and was able to create a design scheme that goes with the house," she says.

As long as there are children, croquet sets and lawn chairs, there will always be a reason for a lawn. The grass-to-gardens movement reflects a growing awareness of the role that a variety of plantings can play in creating an outdoor environment. It may also mean that some people simply want to spend less time tending the turf and more time smelling the roses.

Elisabeth Ginsburg is a freelance writer from Nutley, NJ.