Lawn Gone!: Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard (Paperback)

Description

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A colorful guide covering the basics of replacing a traditional lawn with a wide variety of easy-care, no-mow, drought-tolerant, money-saving options that will appeal to today's busy, eco-conscious homeowner.

Homeowners spend billions of hours—and dollars—watering, mowing, and maintaining their lawns. You don’t have to be one of them. Free yourself with Lawn Gone!, a colorful, accessible guide to the basics of replacing a traditional lawn with a wide variety of easy-care, no-mow, low-water, money-saving options. It includes:
•  alternative grasses that seldom (or never) need mowing
•  drought-tolerant, eco-friendly landscapes
•  regional plant recommendations for all parts of the country
•  artificial turf that looks like the real thing
•  step-by-step lawn-removal methods
•  strategies for dealing with neighbors and HOAs
•  ways to minimize your lawn if you’re not ready to go all the way

Whether you’re a beginner or expert gardener, green thumb or black, Lawn Gone! provides realistic choices, achievable plans, and simple instructions for renovating your yard from start to finish.

About the Author

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PAM PENICK is a garden designer, award-winning blogger, and the author of Lawn Gone! She is a contributor to such magazines as Garden Design, Organic Life, and Wildflower and has received several writing awards from Garden Writers Association. She lives and gardens in water-challenged Austin, Texas.

Praise For…

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“With beautiful photographs and down-to-earth advice, Pam Penick has created the ultimate guide to replacing a lawn with a more natural and inviting landscape. Lawn Gone! will inspire you to turn your front yard from lawn into luscious.”
-Amy Stewart, author of Wicked Plants and Flower Confidential
 
“This thoughtful, inviting, and thoroughly useful book should be required for every new homeowner at closing. It has the power to transform residential landscapes from coast to coast and change the world we all share.”
-Lauren Springer Ogden, garden designer, author of The Undaunted Garden, coauthor of Plant-Driven Design and Waterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens
 
“The great American lawn is ubiquitous, but it’s not right for everyone. Lawn Gone! is a must-read for those considering downsizing or eliminating their lawns in favor of a tastier mix of low-maintenance flowers, shrubs, ground covers, native plants, and paved or mulched areas. Pam’s detailed information and common-sense advice gives you the confidence that you can do it.”
-Steve Bender, Southern Living magazine
 
“If you’ve been hesitating to remove and replace your lawn, you'll find this book reassuring, helpful and chock full of great ideas. The concept of lawns as part of the American Dream originated in England. Isn’t it time we declared our independence from water waste, toxic runoff, mowing and dethatching? Pam Penick shows beyond-the-lawn ideas for lovely, low-maintenance outdoor living areas. Thanks to this book, lawn mowers may become early-21st-century artifacts our grandkids puzzle over.”
-Debra Lee Baldwin, author of Designing with Succulents
 
“With Lawn Gone! Pam Penick adds her thoughtful voice to a growing chorus compelling us to limit the size and environmental cost of that sacrosanct icon of suburban life, the American lawn. She not only dares to suggest forgoing a lawn altogether; with beautiful images and practical advice, she shows us just how to do it, even when the neighbors raise an eyebrow. The power of Pam’s argument comes through inspiration: she presents so many beautiful alternatives to lawns that readers will likely be picking up shovels and tearing through turf before finishing her last page.”
-Scott Ogden, coauthor of Waterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens and Plant-Driven Design
 
“In Lawn Gone! Pam Penick presents lawn alternatives for parts of the country beyond her home turf (or lack of turf!) in Austin, Texas, in a cleanly presented, informative style. A great resource for anyone considering giving up the lawn in favor of something more interesting and dynamic.”
-Scott Calhoun, author of Yard Full of Sun, The Hot Garden, and The Gardener’s Guide to Cactus

“An excellent go-to book for anyone wanting to downsize and/or eliminate their lawn (a topic in which interest will continue to grow). Readers will benefit from the details on various removal methods and the forewarning of dealing with HOAs.”
-Garden Writers Association