*As seen in The New York Times and MarthaStewart.com
"It's time to rebuild meadows wherever we can. . . Owen Wormser
explains why, and how to do this, with oodles of highly readable,
ecologically sound advice."--Douglas W. Tallamy, author of Bringing
Nature Home and Nature's Best Hope
Landscape designer Owen Wormser explains how to replace the deadscape
we call lawn with low-maintenance, eco-friendly meadows. In this second
edition of his award-winning book, he includes photos of meadows in
progress plus more ways to cultivate your own organic meadow.
This how-to book on growing your own wildflowers and native grasses is
also about sustainability, regeneration, and beauty. In a world where
lawns have wreaked havoc on our natural ecosystems, meadows offer a
compelling solution. It is garden landscaping that is beautiful, all
year round.
Meadows establish wildlife and pollinator habitats, are low-maintenance
and low-cost, have a built-in resilience that helps them weather climate
extremes, and can draw down and store far more carbon dioxide than any
manicured lawn.
Wormser describes how to plant an organic meadow garden or traditional
meadow, that's right for your site. His book includes guidance on:
- Preparing your site
- Designing your meadow
- Planting without using synthetic chemicals
- Growing 21 starter native grasses and wildflowers, including butterfly
weed, smooth blue aster, purple coneflower, wild bergamot, blue grama
grass, switchgrass, and many more
- Building support in neighborhoods where a tidy lawn is the standard.
He also shares 28 color photos that highlight the multitude of ways
you can cultivate your own organic meadow.
To illuminate the many joys of meadow-building, Wormser draws on his own
stories, including how growing up off the grid in northern Maine, with
no electricity or plumbing, prepared him for his work.
