Lawns into Meadows: Growing a Regenerative Landscape

The sustainability and time-use arguments for turning either empty spaces or existing lawns into meadows are compelling, as this type of landscape requires no fertilizer, herbicides, or irrigation, and apparently only one mow a year. Meadows re-create small patches of wild space that pollinators and birds need. They also store carbon, which helps the larger ecosystem, and add year-round visual interest to a space that a traditional lawn with an annual border could not possibly have, particularly when the yearly mow happens in the spring. Wormser (owner, Abound Design landscaping) writes from two decades of experience in regenerative landscapes, including a high-profile project working with the Eric Carle museum in western Massachusetts. He writes about a number of failures or misjudgments from a place of humor, which indicates how much of meadow creation is trial and error, experimentation, and comfort with change year to year while you wait for the end result. Chapters focused on specific plants to start with, and their regions, make this a practical if not complete guide.