Requiem for a Lawnmower: Gardening in a Warmer, Drier, World

by Sally Wasowski, Andy Wasowski (Primary Contributor), Vahan Shirvanian (Illustrator)

Book by Wasowski, Sally

Genres: Gardening

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 25, 2004

Reviews

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource on native landscape gardening. This book can help save the planet, water and be therapy for the mind as well. Woodlands and prairie's. LOVE IT!

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a gardening book per se, in the sense of tips and suggestions for planning and maintaining your garden, but rather, a philosophical text on the value of native plants in gardening. For quick reference: They are easier to take care of, because they adapted for the very region in which you are growing them, rather than something imported from a different climate, with different moisture, light, soil requirements than those occuring naturally, so native plants, when established, require less water, less use of pesticides, generally less weeding, and so on. Plus you're maybe preserving a bit of natural habitat for other native residents.

There are specific recommendations in here, but they're largely for Texas and New Mexico, which is where the author's lived when they wrote the first edition, and where they lived when they released the second edition, respectively.

I was pretty inspired. So much so that about 30 pages in I ran to the library and picked up any other books on native plant gardening, specific to wisconsin, that I could find. Those who know me, know that I do not like the lawnmower, less for its own character than for the reason that I do not like lawns. i consider them a great waste of time, space and resources. The idea of replacing the lawn with a naturalistic prairie (interspersed with food crops) and retiring the lawnmower appeals to me greatly.

These authors are true believers in the movement, though not absolutists of the sort that Michael Pollan evidently ran afoul of, leading him to write an essay ("Against Nativism" - which can be found on his website: http://www.michaelpollan.com/article....) pretty much attacking the movement, which lead the Wasowskis to include an essay attacking Pollan in this book's 2nd edition. Both sides have some good points. Pollan is a bit over the top in condemming all those who promote native plant gardening, but he does raise some valid issues about the subject. Mostly, it seems, he was feeling attacked and struck back journalistically, and these native plant people did the same, more ... essayistically.

I'm digressing aren't I?

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very encouraging to read how you can create a yard that works WITH your local soil and local weather, and survives, instead of transplanting hot house plants into an environment that will kill them in a short time. I look forward to getting rid of my lawnmower!