The Bottom Line
Pros
- Family-Oriented: how the presence of children impacts a landscape design is considered.
Cons
- Lack of a glossary.
Description
- USDA Plant Hardiness Zone maps included.
- This Scotts lawn care book is filled with photos and illustrations.
- Ch. 1 begins with history, starting with how grass was used in Persian gardens around 500 B.C....
- and ending with facts about the modern lawn, such as Budding's invention of the lawn mower.
- Learn how to tailor the yard to children's athletic activities.
- Learn how to get children involved by attracting hummingbirds and butterflies to the yard.
- Decks, patios, terraces, paths, driveways, steps, entryways and service areas are also discussed.
Guide Review - "Lawnscaping: Shape the Perfect Landscape Around Your Lawn" -- Scotts
Do you seek a low-maintenance yard? "More time to sit and enjoy the lawn is an advantage of one that can be cut with a reel mower in five minutes," we read in Chapter 1. Anyone saddled with lawn care chores will enjoy the admonition that "every tree, shrub, fence post, bird feeder pole, swing set, and other obstacle translates to a little more time spent with the string trimmer."
This good sense carries over into considerations about households with children. E.g., we are told how to minimize children's impact on lawns. When we learn about landscape planning in Ch. 2, we are asked, "Do you have young children riding tricycles today who tomorrow will be inline skating and soon after that getting their first car and parking it on the lawn if you don't provide them with a parking space in the driveway?" An exhaustive example is provided of how to draw up lists of wants and needs in the process of planning a landscape. You'll also see how to sketch a plan.
Ch. 3 discusses viewing a yard as a "series of outdoor rooms with outside versions of floors, walls, and ceilings." The lawn serves as floor "carpeting," and we learn about the different types of grasses.
It's not till later in the book that lawn care, per se, is covered. The content of the lawn-care chapters is comparable to that in The Lawn Bible. You'll find advice on everything from lawn mowers to irrigation systems.
But don't let the lawn-care chapters fool you: This is essentially a book on landscape design. More specifically, it's a book on landscape design written from a couple of perspectives sometimes neglected in more typical books on landscape design:
- Establishing the lawn as a central feature of a landscape design
- Achieving a landscape design that makes sense in a yard with children
