Grass Police

Grass and Groundcover

I could not get Monday’s episode out of my mind. So this is going to be a week-long study on the use of grass.  But not for the reason you would think. It is partially because I did not have the time to debate the Grass Police, but also because I use grass and textural ground covers often in design.

But first, I want to thank all the readers on Monday for stopping by and all the nice comments that many left. I wrote the post on Monday morning in record time.

But what popped into my mind later was a rant I read a while back by an author opposed to grass in urban spaces. While I am effectively decreasing my green carpet down to square inches, I will never reduce it to non-existent. This is both for functional reason (think pets) and the fact that grass and groundcovers do create an area of relief for the eye that acts in concert with the rest of the design. This is especially true for gardens loaded with color and texture.

What was discussed in the blog was how city dwellers maintain their grass. After trying to intensely remember where I saw this, and after going to check the site of the most obvious candidate, I did find it here. A little off where I thought, but not too far. Lucky for me, it was in the sidebar.

Elizabeth made no secret of her distaste of urban grass, and she would probably applaud what I am doing on my property, but her characterization made me shudder a bit. She also wanted to see no grass in urban landscapes, period.  She has a big point on the majority of properties, they are exactly as she described. And if left unmowed and as she described, would start to take on the appearance of a meadow. You probably realize what a meadow looks like through the changing seasons, and meadows have plenty of varmints, like my Grass Officer pointed out.

Elizabeth also had a post on urban wildflower gardens. She was not in favor of them for urban lots and I have to agree with her on this. The urban wildflower garden at this time of year is quite lovely though, but having wildflowers in my client’s gardens, they are work to keep tidy and in bounds.

Here is a test. Which if any of these photos were shot in the city? Click for a larger view if you want to inspect the area.

A  or   B

C  or D

E  or  F

Give up? A, E and F are at the end of my street. B, C and D, as well as the image below are taken in the country.

Elizabeth’s  writing is so interesting and enjoyable, that I am a daily reader. But what she talks about usually gets a reaction. Her comments on urban grass made me think.

Her comments also were discussing the benefit to the environment, by eliminating mowing. I will explore that as well later in the week.

As much as I like the look of flowers to the sidewalk and beyond (hell strip), I actually prefer other less intense gardens to form a break in the long line of this type of gardening space. Houses with just shrubs and trees help play off the more complex or looser gardens. They actually help each other out visually. I plan to show examples through the week.

What happens if everybody is landscaping in a similar fashion, individuality is lost, but more importantly, the gardens lose some of their appeal as one blends with the next.There are some places this actually works well though. I will post my example and analysis later. But, slip in a few breaks and your eye can easily differentiate.

I prefer to see a garden relating to the architecture and the site on which they are built. Not every house should have this type of garden. My house, having a Georgian look may be one such house. The main house is formal in appearance so the gardens should nod to this formality as well. But I do have the poorly added addition, which by the very blandness of the structure, allows me to landscape it away until at some point, I can figure how to rebuild the open porch.

So both formal and informal landscaping will coexist. My little, and I mean little, patch of grass pays deference to the formal home. Back when the home was constructed, it was landscaped like many on my street. A hedge of Bridal Wreath Spiraea and a rug of grass.

There are three homes on the street that still have the original landscaping after almost 100 years. Here is one that is very well maintained with the spiraea. My home was very similarly landscaped.

Stop back. I will show how I use grass in a sculptural way on client’s properties. Another post will explore the phenomenon in Buffalo of landscaping the entire yard. I will show examples of those yards that help support the cottage look by remaining a bit more refined yet give the streetscape a look of diversity. I hope your Monday was a good one.