Lawns Into Meadows, 2nd Edition - by Owen Wormser (Paperback)

About the Book

Landscape designer Owen Wormser explains how to replace the deadscape we call lawn with low-maintenance, eco-friendly meadows. This award-winning, how-to book on growing your own wildflowers and native grasses is also about sustainability, regeneration, and beauty. In a world where lawns have wreaked havoc on our natural ecosystems, meadows offer a compelling solution.

Book Synopsis

As seen in The New York Times and MarthaStewart.com

"It's time to rebuild meadows wherever we can. . . Owen Wormser explains why, and how to do this, with oodles of highly readable, ecologically sound advice."--Douglas W. Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home and Nature's Best Hope

Landscape designer Owen Wormser explains how to replace the deadscape we call lawn with low-maintenance, eco-friendly meadows. In this second edition of his award-winning book, he includes photos of meadows in progress plus more ways to cultivate your own organic meadow.

This how-to book on growing your own wildflowers and native grasses is also about sustainability, regeneration, and beauty. In a world where lawns have wreaked havoc on our natural ecosystems, meadows offer a compelling solution. It is garden landscaping that is beautiful, all year round.

Meadows establish wildlife and pollinator habitats, are low-maintenance and low-cost, have a built-in resilience that helps them weather climate extremes, and can draw down and store far more carbon dioxide than any manicured lawn.

Wormser describes how to plant an organic meadow garden or traditional meadow, that's right for your site. His book includes guidance on:
- Preparing your site
- Designing your meadow
- Planting without using synthetic chemicals
- Growing 21 starter native grasses and wildflowers, including butterfly weed, smooth blue aster, purple coneflower, wild bergamot, blue grama grass, switchgrass, and many more
- Building support in neighborhoods where a tidy lawn is the standard.

He also shares 28 color photos that highlight the multitude of ways you can cultivate your own organic meadow.

To illuminate the many joys of meadow-building, Wormser draws on his own stories, including how growing up off the grid in northern Maine, with no electricity or plumbing, prepared him for his work.

Review Quotes

"It's time to rebuild meadows wherever we can, including the deadscape we call lawn. Owen Wormser explains why, and how to do this, with oodles of highly readable, ecologically sound advice."-Douglas W. Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home and Nature's Best Hope

"I love the voicing in this book. It brought meadows and flowers to life for me in many ways that I am going to continue to enjoy."-Jon Kabat-Zinn, Scientist, writer, and founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

"This wonderful book by Owen Wormser has a humble title, Lawns Into Meadows. But it is all about a very big idea, namely the conversion of lawns into meadows as a powerful way to help save the lands, protect the waters, and stabilize the climate. Lawns are a very destructive force in an ecological sense. They consume huge amounts of water and depend on toxic chemicals, fertilizers, and fossil fuels for their maintenance.
Meadows do just the opposite. They employ biodiversity and nature's genius to heal landscapes, build soils, and sequester atmospheric carbon while supporting pollinators and other beneficial insects and plants. The author tells us how to grow a meadow, and become a positive force on behalf of the planet. I highly recommend this book."-Dr. John Todd, author of Healing Earth

"The practical organization and clear-cut instructions provided in this book make it an indispensable guide for growing and maintaining a meadow. With its charming cover and interior illustrations, it is also a beautiful addition to any gardener's library. Recommended for anyone interested in rewilding their landscape."―Casey Laine, Butterfly Gardener

"I just made the mistake of sticking my nose into Owen Wormser's Lawns into Meadows and before I knew it, it had interrupted my plans because I kept reading it. Lovely book, lovely ideas, and graceful illustrations. Highly recommended."-Christopher Madden, Woodhall Press

"I like the straightforward, can-do approach of Lawns Into Meadows―whether for a replacing a curbside stretch of grass, or an island bed in your backyard, or something bigger. This is a really accessible, how-to book that's also about sustainability, regeneration, and beauty. I'm so glad to get this book."-Margaret Roach, A Way to Garden, New York Times contributor

About the Author

Owen Wormser was born and raised in rural Maine. He earned a degree in landscape architecture and quickly learned to use regenerative, low-maintenance practices in designing and building landscapes. Based in Western Massachusetts, his company, Abound Design, provides design, consulting, and installation services.