Life After Lawns: 8 Steps from Grass to a Waterwise Garden

I'm more skim reading that sitting there and reading this book. I need to really read it though because with all this dry hot weather we have in north Texas, I need less lawn and more resting and useful places. The book is well put together, and is very relevant in today's outdoor life styles.

This offers only general suggestions for landscaping without a lawn.

As stated in the preface, "This book is for homeowners who are ready to trade their water-guzzling lawns for a different landscape, but don't know how to begin." Authors Bogh and Schnetz between them have considerable hands-on experience to bring to bear on creating natural, self-sustaining gardenscapes, born of the fact that they could not find all the comprehensive knowledge they required in a single source. This book goes a long way to fill that need. It is written in a very easy-to-read conversational style, accented by wonderful photos and diagrams. It is an excellently produced book. The authors also seem to anticipate the questions one might have right about the time you think of asking them, and they provide lots of interesting little sidebars to answer such questions and relate others' experiences. There is a list of on-line resources at the back of the book, as well as others sprinkled throughout the text.There really are 8 steps to a new garden, beginning with "Imagine your garden in paradise". It then follows with chapters on how to design a new garden, how to choose professional expert help if you need it, taking out the old lawn, laying the ground work (literally) for the new garden, then adding water, and filling with plants, and finally, tending to your new garden's needs. Chapter 4 on taking out the old grass doesn't beat around the bush (pun intended) but gets right down to business: "The next step is creative destruction, the part where you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. Start by killing the grass." Sounds lethal..well, it is, but follow the plan.You don't have to be a biologist to understand this book. I'm not one, and I understood it perfectly. Chances are that you will be taking this book with you wherever you go--either into your yard while digging out old plants, or going to the nursery to buy new ones. It's going to get beat up, dog-eared, stained, and torn. You had better buy two copies, because the book itself is a work of art, and you'd like to keep a nice copy on the shelf.

it was ok

I heard Molly speak at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens in Claremont, Calif. last week. I was impressed with her program and decided to buy the book, despite it being self-published. I have seen many self-published books and the printing quality has usually been truly awful. This book is an exception: beautifully laid out, color photographs on every page, side bars with additional information, and an appendix listing websites for further information. I have several books on gardening with native plants, which basically contain lists of plants and photos of beautiful gardens. Life After Lawns concentrates on the how-to of converting from turf to a garden, with a step-by-step process. There is information on irrigation needs, what kind of professional help you can hire,and cautions, such as calling 811 to find out where your underground lines are BEFORE you start digging and possibly damaging one. A great book for the average homeowner. After reading her book, you can head to Reimagining the California Lawn or California Native Plant Gardens for design ideas and plant descriptions.

Excellent guide

Molly Bogh steps into that puzzling spot to answer questions we all have (at least in California) of how to live without the green lawn we love in the presence of a severe drought. We all must make note of the problem but here is someone with some elegant suggestions on how we can maintain beauty in our yards without the necessity for water gulping grass and thirsty plants.Molly does this with eight steps: Imagine your garden paradise (think outside the box), Choose design solutions (design with nature in mind), Take care of Business (make a plan including getting permits and consider the budget), Make way for the New (replacing grass the intelligent and beautiful way), Build the bones (intelligent irrigating systems underground, use of stones, etc), Add water (tips on irrigation secrets), Fill with plants (according to your Hydrozone, choose drought tolerant plants, how to shop for these), and Tend to your garden (`a process, not a product,').What makes Molly's bookwork so well is the plethora of color photographs that explain in imagery the items she is discussing. It is like a show and tell in her own home. This is a `must have' book for all people who are environmentally concerned and still want to have a beautiful home and garden in which to enjoy it. Grady Harp, September 14