Search

Forget Lawns, Go For Creative Grass

Two years ago, I attended the annual conference of The Society of Garden Designers in England. The chairman’s opening remarks were a bold statement which resonated as a call to all present to design gardens more in line with the upcoming generations passions and lifestyle. He basically said that getting them interested in gardens as we have known them was probably already a lost challenge.

Today, I feel he may have been heard. I see more and more creative alternatives offering up the “idea” of a garden rather than gardens described in dictionaries.

The “Blackberry generation” was raised on advertising concepts, slogans, instant solutions, and new designs cater to both by being conceptual and very very low maintenance.

If you have inherited skills in actual garden growing, you could try out your talents with modern variations such as the two below.

Here’s an inspirational design seen at Bromptons Borders in London:

creative-grass-1


Equally interesting is the work by Richard Dhennin who created this very consumerist Barcode with grass and plants:

creative-grass-2

And, if you haven’t seen this already, the moss house in Tokyo by Nendo:

creative-grass-4

For those like me who lack “growing skills” the option is to “fake it ’til you make it”! Today faux grass is in its third life. It has moved from functional to cool and urban…and is entering the stage where it is a tool for creativity. You can now get black faux grass, so I guess that says a lot!

creative-grass-3

You can copy the above designs with the use of faux grass or create actual furniture, such as this ottoman by GH Design, which is especially great in the winter when you don’t see to much green outside.

I know there is a successful movement called “de-lawning”, which considers lawns a waste of space and replaces them with vegetable gardens. I suppose these designs are the other side of the spectrum but can have equal success.

Has anyone used grass or faux grass to create something unique or artistic? Or have you thought about “de-lawning”?