Evelyn J. Hadden

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I love the concept behind it -- turning little used and difficult places in your yard into lush gardens instead of half dead lawn. But for as long as this book is (and I read it cover to cover), I didn't come away with a lot of information. Sure it looks pretty, but this book reinforces my general theory on gardening/landscaping books -- the prettier they are, the less actual information is contained in them.
My main complaints are referenced by show more many other reviewers. The first section of the book is dedicated to gardens all over the country that have hellstrip or other front yard gardens. In the text describing many of these gardens, it references how the homeowners used professional landscape design services or were landscape architects themselves -- that was offputting in a text that should be DIY. The pictures were very artistic but didn't give me a clear understand of the full picture of the garden or the full layout, which would have been helpful.
Throughout the book were buried in paragraphs lists of suggested plants for specific uses and sites. It would be nice to have those lists all together. Unless I was taking extensive notes and referencing pages, it would be very time consuming to find those lists again.
The plant profiles at the end were nice, but I also feel that such profiles can be found in other books and websites.
The book had the right idea and a good concept, but in the end just didn't execute that very well. show less

A good overview of different strategies, but its biggest failing for me is in not addressing disease-carrying pests drawn to unmowed or saturated areas (e.g. ticks and mosquitoes), which are a particular concern in New England.

Adult nonfiction; gardening. This book was ok, but was not really what I expected--text-heavy with few pictures, it sums up to: "These people have maintenance free yards, but if you want to do the same you should visit your local university/arboretum to find out what works in your area." If you want a book to gaze upon and dream upon, try instead: Reimagining the California Lawn, which has lots more pictures and plant lists that you can then take to your local plant expert for the requisite show more consultation. show less

Excellent examples and ideas for those focused on other aspects of outdoor living, including transitional no-mow spaces between differently-purposed surfaces. Climactic, mini-ecological and water-use ratings, as well as colour groupings are listed as useful indices.