Customer Reviews

Front Yard Gardens: Growing More Than Grass

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If you're thinking about putting in a front yard garden, buy this book! For years I considered getting rid of the grass in my front yard. This book inspired me to finally do it!

I wondered how my neighbors would respond given that almost everyone in my area has grass in the front yard. I needn't have worried -- all summer people stopped to admire the garden. I was amazed at how many said they too are considering replacing grass with a garden.

A side benefit is the time I've saved. I chose low maintenance plants and once the garden was planted, maintaining it took much less time than cutting the grass every week.

Even if you don't want a front yard garden, this book is a winner. It's filled with beautiful pictures and is a great read. I've given it to a number of friends and, without exception, they too have really enjoyed it.

So many gardening books focus on the high-end gardens of a few wealthy people. This book is practical, whimsical, and full of photographs and stories about real front-yard gardens. The owners have to contend with problems like streetlights, copycat neighbors, variances, etc., and many of them are redesigning and planting on a budget. This focus makes the book truly inspiring as well as useful. A great investment in getting rid of your boring lawn!

A late "bloomer" in the gardening world (at almost 63 years of age), I've read lots of books on the subject, mostly to educate myself on the somewhat complex botanical terminology and also to not appear too "green" when in the presence of avid gardeners.

Through Amazon, I came across Liz Primeau's "Front Yard Gardens: Growing More Than Grass", a book I can sum up in one word...WOW! I read it cover to cover and enjoyed every single story and especially the beautiful photography, page after page. At the beginning of the book, the author shows before and after pictures of her own front lawn turned garden, which creates an instant author-reader connection. Cottage gardens, small city gardens, opulent gardens, minimalist gardens, secret gardens...all are explained in tiny details, with recommended plants for each. Also listed are the names of plants, trees, etc. shown in every photograph, along with their latin name. A few garden plans are shown. I highly recommend this book even if you're not considering turning your front lawn into a garden. You'll get tons of ideas that you can use elsewhere on your property...not to mention the visual treat that you'll want to go back to often!

I loved this book for a lot of reasons. And actually read it from cover to cover in the early spring, when we had late spring snows, trying to stay inspired. The pics are a huge reason I love this book. I'm a visual person and having actual photos of different front yard gardens is most inspiring. I can see what it looks like, then look at diagrams or create my own based on it.

At our cottage, we actually sit in the front, as we have a large lawn, more than the front. So 3 years ago, we started expanding the little bitty baby garden pod on the front that was centered around a large rock. We have a large large large horizontal oval bed by the road, a funny swirly shaped one in the middle, and huge rectangular bed that we've expanded this year that surrounds the front of the cottage and extends around the side to meet up with the rows of orange tiger lilies that hug the sides and back of the cottage that we inherited.

So, originally, we were most concerned with cleaning, pruning, and figuring out what we had in the gardens. We purged, cleaned, and found all kinds of discoveries in the first year and second, as the garden began to breathe. We then started buying different things that struck our fancy, a lot of perennials, and filled in with annuals.

So, after expanding the beds last fall, we realized that this spring, we actually needed a plan. So I researched and ordered a few books, this being one. This book has really helped us to shape our gardens, have a plan, coach us to have a plan and pic colours, and really helped us to create a plan for this year and for 3 years out. Our front yard garden is so beautiful, full, and lush this year that the cards slow down as people pass in our little community.

Some of the best advice was around colours. We used to just pick whatever looked good in the nursery. This year, we went in with a plan that focused us on pinks, purples, and whites (with a little blue) to go with the yellow we already had. And we figured out when everything opened so we actually planned additions that filled in gaps where we didn't have flowers blooming, so we have flowers that bloom from early spring to the late fall. The book helped guide us in that and while our choices were not perfect, we had a ball planning it and it actually made our trips to the nursery much more fun and less frustrating. And we spent our money better in the nursery!

Am looking forward to re-read the parts I've earmarked for August and for fall and to use it to help plan for next year. Would recommend it highly!

I had borrowed this book from my library and knew before finishing it that I had to own it.
There are so many ideas, that when I start my lawn removal this fall, I'll be borrowing plant choices from the various gardens pictured.
I'm just counting down the days to hit the nurseries and neighbours up for grasses and plants. When I have my rural yard started, I've persuaded my city living sister (with the book pictures) to remove her front lawn and we'll renovate that too!

With water restrictions in place four months of the year, this is a perfect way to go.Thank you Liz and Andrew.

Have you ever wondered why front yards in North America consist mainly of lawn? Is there a law that demands this? The writer starts by briefly reviewing the history of our love/hate affair with the front lawn and pointing out how costly they are in labour, water and poisonous chemicals.

The writer then explains how she changed her ordinary, lawn-filled front yard into a garden, working around the objections of her husband. From there she explains the groundwork that must be undertaken when a plain front yard is changed into a garden. Most of the remaining chapters discuss different types of gardens - cottage gardens, minimalist gardens, small city gardens and so on. The writer presents each topic and then introduces gardeners who have developed variations on this theme. The final chapter "Overcoming Obstacles" shows how gardeners have coped with dry soil, steep gardens, a garden that must incorporate a fire hydrant or a power pole and so on. There is a reasonable resource list at the end.

This is a very useful book for people who are tired of the front lawn but don't know quite what else to do with the space. The approach is relaxed and personal and has examples of gardens from Ontario to Texas. The advice is practical, the illustrations are relevant and show the gardens at different seasons. The writer knows her topic thoroughly and has given us a very readable and attractive garden book.

Have you ever wondered why front yards in North America consist mainly of lawn? Is there a law that demands this? The writer starts by briefly reviewing the history of our love/hate affair with the front lawn and pointing out how costly they are in labour, water and poisonous chemicals.

The writer then explains how she changed her ordinary, lawn-filled front yard into a garden, working around the objections of her husband. From there she explains the groundwork that must be undertaken when a plain front yard is changed into a garden. Most of the remaining chapters discuss different types of gardens - cottage gardens, minimalist gardens, small city gardens and so on. The writer presents each topic and then introduces gardeners who have developed variations on this theme. The final chapter "Overcoming Obstacles" shows how gardeners have coped with dry soil, steep gardens, a garden that must incorporate a fire hydrant or a power pole and so on. There is a reasonable resource list at the end.

This is a really useful book for people who are tired of the front lawn but don't know quite what else to do with the space. The approach is relaxed and personal and has examples of gardens from Ontario to Texas. The advice is practical, the illustrations are relevant and show the gardens at different seasons. The writer knows her topic thoroughly and has given us a very readable and attractive garden book.

Just received this book and "Tauntons Front Yard Idea Book." That one and this one are filled with my post-its to mark pages that sparked ideas for my yard.

This book in particular was interesting in that Liz Primeau describes the genesis of her thought process regarding her ordinary front yard. She reclaimed her property by developing her own vision of what it should be for her enjoyment, as opposed to what the tradition dictates what a suburban front yard should look like.

Great book for reading, as well as beautiful pictures. Wonderful ideas, very nicely written.

Detailing more than two dozen gardens, Front Yard Gardens is instant motivation for anyone tired or mowing, weeding, watering and fertilizing lawns. With the author's short history of lawns and their demand on us and the environment it is clear to see why many may be happier if lawns went away. But Primeau certainly does not demonize the practice and fully admits that the problem is certainly not the plants - it is the way most of us choose to care for our lawns that impacts the land. Primeau's own garden was a decade long labor of love proving that eliminating a lawn can be arduous - but more arduous than lawn maintenance? Probably not. While the garden vignettes focus more on the individual space's history than providing how-to information, it is clear to see that diverse multi-species gardens can be immensely more entertaining than a single species mono-culture like turf grass. Several of the front yard gardens detailed in the book do maintain a small lawn space but most seem to have completely eliminated their lawns opting for lush garden plantings combined with hardscaping practicalities like paths, steps, fences and driveways, and, in one instance, even artificial turf, as well as fun garden features like ponds, bird houses, and sitting areas. Full color photos by Andrew Leyerle provide multiple views of the gardens, in some cases even highlighting their seasonal changes. A book for every garden style, level, and interest, Front Yard Gardens should not be missed.

If you want more than a plain grass lawn, but need ideas for what to do, this book is for you. Full of beautiful photography, this book will give you plenty of inspiration. Primeau discusses the advantages to replacing your grass lawn with garden. Chapters are arranged according to different garden styles. Each chapter gives some plant suggestions as well.