Who says our lawns have to flow together? All around my suburban neighborhood I see people giving their best garden space to grass.
I say dig it up! Buffer, screen, create mixed borders that change with the season. They’re good for the soul, insects and wildlife. They create a sense of enclosure that makes us all feel a little safer. Most of all they give us space to try new plants and plan for four seasons of interest.
Below are the 22 different kinds of plants blooming today–February 27th, 2011– in the mixed beds around our house in Apex, NC.
1) Daffodils–3 varieties
2) Crocus
3) Hyacinth
4) Forsythia (yellow and white)
5) Viola
6) Lenten Rose
7) Mahonia
8) Texas Scarlet Quince
9) Wintersweet
10) Sweet breath of Spring (Lonceria fragmantisma)
11) Winter Daphne
12) Winter Iris
13) Bergenia
14) Camellia Japonica–several varieties
15) Prunus mume (two varieties)
16) Prunus Altumnalis
18) Native redbud tree
19) Bearsfoot Helleborus
20) Robbs Spurge
21) Violet
22) Edgeworthia Snow Cream
Many of these plants are fragrant. Some make great cut flowers. All are most welcome after cold winter days. And grass…well it’s green. Ok, that’s nice, but how much of it do you really need?
One more thing to consider while we’re all thinking about turf–Does it really need to be perfect? I think not. Of course, I love running barefoot through blades of green. But perfect grass takes a lot of time, money, fertilizer, water, and weed killer.
Again–I think not.
I’ve decided my ideal lawn would be a small oval with lots of clover. I’d let it bloom between mowings to attract lots of honey bees for the flowers and vegetables. Now if I can just convince my husband….
8 comments
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February 28, 2011 at 4:11 am
Kristen
I agree Chris!!! Thank you for the wonderful post! You are a wealth of information! I know my gardening group will enjoy reading this!
February 28, 2011 at 4:40 am
christine ramsey
You are more than welcome, Kirsten. Your kind words mean a lot.
I think if I could preach any one message to other gardeners it would be–grow lots of different things.
One more thought–instead of carving our beds out of grass, wouldn’t it be interesting to reverse the thought process and carve our grass out of beds? Everyone would have a lot less turf, don’t you think?
February 28, 2011 at 5:11 pm
peedee
Wow! what a wonderful early spring garden. I’m so jealous. In virginia nothing is blooming.
March 2, 2011 at 2:10 pm
christineramsey
It happened really quickly. One day–a few daffodils. By the weekend lots and lots of blooms. Thinks happen really fast in our Southern warm spells.
February 28, 2011 at 10:05 pm
outofmyshed
Totally with you on this. Living in London with comparatively tiny gardens, I’m constantly trying to persuade clients (and whoever else will listen to me) to give up space-grabbing grass to grow vegetables or luscious perennials. It’s a slow job- people are (inexplicably) very attached to their lawns, but I’m not giving up!
March 2, 2011 at 2:08 pm
christineramsey
Thanks for the comment. That’s so interesting that it’s not just an American surburban thing. Do you think we got this love of grass from the British Landscape stlye? Maybe green lawns still mean wealth and staus in our collective brains.
March 1, 2011 at 9:45 pm
Amy
Chris, you’ve helped me make my decision. I’m going to create a new bed this spring.
March 2, 2011 at 2:14 pm
christineramsey
You go, girl. A new bed is wonderful thing–space for more treasures.
And I need to send you a picture. I remember how much you like purple booms. My purple helleborus with deep blue hycianths is stunning right now. Even husband Bill said–grow more of that.