The all-American front yard
Should look like this as far as I’m concerned.
Or this. Or any other configuration that ‘s interesting and abundant rather than pinched and pedicured. That’s what I’m celebrating on this glorious 4th of July weekend.
I am thankful that I did not inherit a front lawn from the former owners of our property. Or a back lawn. Or, indeed, a pitiful little strip of side lawn. What I got wasn’t perfect, but at least it demonstrated that there are other ways to dress a house than with a patch of turf and some foundation shrubs.
As I walk around our neighborhood (where these images were taken), I see more and more people gardening in their front yards rather than merely maintaining them. This way of thinking differently about the front yard—as a vegetable garden, a rock garden, a place for interesting ground covers, grasses, and/or native plants—has spread throughout Buffalo and its suburbs, as well as throughout America.
If your idea of the perfect front yard includes turf, I think that’s cool too. What bothers me is the idea of people choosing it because it is the conservative or acceptable choice—or, horrors, because it’s all they’re allowed to do.
As we celebrate our freedom, I think we should find more ways to express that freedom in our gardening.
Comments
I might have even possibly convinced him to let the lawn go dormant this summer, but I have a feeling he'll panic when it starts to brown.
He bags the clippings, which I then promptly dump to use for mulch and composting. (along with oh, 30-40 bags of maple leaves he chops up with the mower each fall.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/christmasnotebook/3653038606/
Beats a lawn any day. At least in my book. :) ~~Rhonda
The front was all lawn when we moved here. If you have relaxed standards, St Augustine can be fairly low maintenance when it has the shade of high trees but in sunny places we've added ornamental trees, shrubs, bulbs, perennials, etc. Nothing grows here without some irrigation and if I have to use water it will be on American mixed borders rather than grass.
My part of Austin is pretty stodgy - there are some front gardens but not that many.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I think what makes a garden or a lawn look good is when it's clear that someone is taking good care of it (which, I suppose is where you can get into trouble about the definition of 'good care').
Here, here for yard freedom!