Three Dogs in a Garden: Alternatives to Grass

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Seen and Noted, Part 3: Artificial Lawns

The seemingly perfect lawn that you see above isn't grass at all! It's fake!

Artificial lawns are one of the oddest gardening phenomena that I noted in visits to area gardens in 2012.

Once the standard issue of the typical suburban homes, the green lawn has been falling out of favour in recent years. In many localities, there is a ban on the chemical concoctions that at once kept lawns healthy and weed-free. If you want a dandelion-free lawn, it is now a matter of backbreaking labor.

Rising temperatures, summer droughts and water bans have also taken a toll on the popularity of lawns. What was once a neat carpet of green, is now often brown for a good portion of the summer.

As evidenced by the book to the left, homeowners have started to look for alternatives.

One of the most surprising manifestations of lawn replacement has been the appearance of artificial turf in home applications.

Take the shade garden below for example. Tired of struggling to get grass to prosper in deep shade, this gardener actually ripped out what was left of her back lawn and replaced it with articial grass.

Except for the slightly greyer color, you might not even realize that the grass was artificial.

Truly, this was as nice a shade garden as I have seen, but I have to be honest, I struggled a little with the fake grass.

Here are a couple of further examples. In both these high-end gardens, the landscape architects have employed artificial grass in different applications.

In this first garden, a beautiful set of stairs leads you to the front door to your right and a children's play area to your left.

I neglected to take a picture of the playground, which incorporated a large jungle gym and swing set, but you can see similar projects here. Chosen for its practicality and for its durability underfoot, was...you guessed it, artificial grass.

One final example.

You can watch a short video of this Backyard Oasis designed landscape architect Mark Hartley by clicking this link.

In this courtyard garden, the use of articial grass is more minimal and discreet. In the area to the right of the saltwater pool, the architect has incorporated thin lines of artificial grass to break up the hardscaping.

I can understand and appreciate the reasons behind the architect's choice. Real grass on the pool deck would have been difficult to maintain.

Still...I have general reservations about this product in home applications. My main problem with artificial grass is that it is "artificial". Shouldn't we be aiming to create "natural" home gardens using all-natural materials?

What are your views on using artificial grass? Is there a place for it in home applications, or does it only belong in sports stadiums and on putting greens?

I look forward to hearing your opinion.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Return to Merlin's Hollow

When it comes to weather, there is no magic in the timing of my visits to Merlin's Hollow. On my first visit to David and Deirdre Tomlinson's garden in Aurora, Ontario, it was not only raining, it was pouring!

The weather forecast for my second planned visit called for showers in the afternoon. As I grabbed my camera and hopped into the car that morning, I crossed my fingers and decided to hope for the best.

Luck did not travel with me!

I swear that it commenced to rain the very moment I steered the car onto the exit ramp for Aurora. Then, as I stepped out of the car and opened my umbrella, light rain turned into a heavy downpour.

Seconds later the lightening and thunder began.

Have you ever tried to take pictures with a camera while holding an umbrella? There is a lot of juggling involved. For this reason, many of my pictures are slightly out of focus.

For those of you who may have missed my first post on Merlin's Hollow, the garden was designed by David to be a series of 4 themed gardens surrounded by a tall cedar hedge. At the entrance to each of the 4 gardens is an arched garden gate.

There is a Perennial Flower Garden, a Fragrant Garden (with a thyme lawn), a Rock and Water Garden (with a stream and pond), and a Winter Garden (that is a formal knot garden that looks great even in winter).

What prompted me to brave the weather and make this second visit was plain and simple curiosity.

I don't know about you, but I find that after the tulips and daffodils have faded, there is a bit of a lull in my garden where there is little or no color.

Sure there are the alliums take over where the other bulbs have left off, but overall, there is a lot of green and not much else until the summer perennials and roses really kick in.

Merlin's Hollow was spectacular in early May, but I wondered how David and Deirdre manage to carry that early spring color through those last few weeks in May and first week in June?

The answer in good part? Columbines! Lots of them. And in every pretty shade imaginable.

But what else did Merlin's Hollow have to offer by way of color in those early days of June?

Let's take a look around and see. First, we will look at the Perennial Flower Garden (Lower left on the garden plan).

In this front part of the garden, there were irises of all colors.

(Sorry, David was unsure of the names of the particular varieties.)

Cushion Spruge, Euphorbia Polychroma

Centaurea hypoleuca 'John Coutts' (For some reason, the flower here has photographed to be much more purple than it really appears. 'John Coutts' is actually more of a magenta color.)

Centaurea montana

Spiderwort

While at the front of the garden, we will take a quick one-picture-look at the formal knot garden by the house (the Winter Garden in the lower right corner on the garden plan).

Now let's head into the top lefthand side of the garden, where there is a thyme lawn and a gazebo ( The 'Fragrant Garden' on the garden plan above).

The secret to the success of this thyme lawn? David says it is as simple as poor, gravely soil.

Finally, (sorry this post is getting hopelessly long!) we will head out of the Fragrant Garden and enter the Rock and Water Garden (see top right on the plan).