Any platform or post can present an unexpected opportunity to promote natural landscaping. I posted these comments in response to someone’s post on next-door. They were saying they are having to learn how to take care of their own lawn, since they have had bad luck with lawn services.
Instead of suggesting they get rid of their lawn, I simply shared information about elements that people can add to their yards. It helped that I had happened to see a display of gardening books at the public library that morning!
I am hoping that the desire for peace, beauty, and comfort & security may serve as a leverage point for people to allow more nature back into their yards.
You are part of a trend! A lot of people these days are getting back into doing their own yards. There are a lot of advantages, for example, you can really customize your yard to your own tastes and needs.
One of my favorite things, as a landscaper and a homeowner, is creating pockets of beauty and privacy in my yard.
This is a book I saw on display today at the public library. Landscaping for Privacy, by Marty Wingate. I looked through it and there are some beautiful examples of how to make little outdoor rooms and corridors, conceal tools & trash cans, etc. using plants and trellis materials and so on.
Here are some more great resources for people who are getting back into doing their own yards. This is a display of gardening books that I happen to see at city Island library yesterday. Vegetable gardening, privacy landscaping, etc.
Another book was about miniature gardening, which is basically making little dollhouse-size gardens. Not only does it sound like a fun and charming hobby, but it can also be used to test out ideas and plan your yard! Gardening in Miniature, by Janit Calro.
Added later: Another advantage of miniature gardening is that it can cultivate a refined gentleness and sensitivity. A person just has to be a little bit more gentle-handed to make a garden path that’s 1 inch wide, then to work on our usual human scale. Who knows, perhaps the natural appeal of crafting miniature worlds can even help cure the “permie disease” of compulsively seeking ever-larger acreage, when what we need to be doing is staying put and cultivating ever-deeper layers of fertility and abundance in our own existing urban yards and neighborhoods.
See my screenshots on my Facebook post here.
And regarding another post, about a historic house along the oceanfront highway:
Thanks for the info! I have always enjoyed seeing this unusual house along the A1A, and thought for sure it had to be designed by an architect.
And as a landscaper, and beachside resident myself, I love how the current owners have allowed the dense natural beach vegetation to become a defining note. Here’s the Zillow photo of how it looks nowadays.
Not only is this beautiful and affords privacy, but it’s a protective buffer against wind and water and salt. A friend of mine who grew up on the beachside in the 1950s told me a lot of the beachside yards used to be like this, with just a narrow, intriguing pathway through the scrub Palmetto thicket to get to the front door.