Lawns Into Meadows, Second Edition
Lawns Into Meadows, Second Edition
*As seen in The New York Times, Martha Stewart, and NPR
“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.
ISBN: 9781734901184 (paperback) Pages: 185 (with illustrations & photos) Size: 6 x 9
P R A I S E & P R E S S
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,
Professor of Entomology, 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
Owen Wormser shows us how to forgo grass in favor of native plant meadows, a more climate-friendly option for your green space. If this is a topic that interests you, there are many more guides in the nifty Citizen Gardening series from Stone Pier Press.
-Susannah Felts, Bookpage
The Great Unlawning of America has been underway for some time now. I want to give us all a forceful nudge to help us stay the path with the many millions of acres of progress we have to go to trade lifeless monoculture chemically dependent lawns for happy healthy habitat. This work was given a beautiful boost back in 2020 with the publication of Owen Wormser’s book Lawns into Meadows, Growing a Regenerative Landscape (updated second edition out now in paperback!).
-Cultivating Place on National Public Radio
Winner of a 2020 Nautilus Award for “better books for a better world.”
I really 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, New York Times, A Way to Garden
Listen to Owen on the Permaculture Podcast, where he speaks about everything meadows, from using nurse crops for establishing a meadow to the role of a meadow in an ecological landscape and how to make meadows appealing to neighbors.
Are picture-perfect grass lawns on their way out? Why natural is the new beautiful.
Ann Hinga Klein, Martha Stewart Magazine
Thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Lawns into Meadow” is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library DIY gardening instructional reference collections and reading lists.
—Midwest Review
I found this book really inspiring because it’s all about what we can do, within our reach, to support restoration and regeneration.
-Kamea Chayne, Green Dreamer Podcast
Owen Wormser was interviewed on NPR as part of a series on gardens that give more than they take.
Lawns Into Meadows offers a straightforward and easy to follow approach to wildflower gardening. The book is very clearly laid out with beautiful illustrations and step by step instructions on how to use native plants to create shelter, support and food for wildlife. We think every Native Plant Society across the country should book Owen Wormser for an event. We were lucky to have him when we did!
- Native Plant Society of New Jersey
“Building a meadow and a lot of ecological gardening is a collaboration with nature. And so you have to let these species and the environment unfold and sort of unfurl in the way that they will.”
Owen Wormser in conversation with Margaret Roach, Making and maintaining meadow gardens, Away to Garden podcast
Are we witnessing the end of lawns? 6 tips to turn your lawn into a meadow
I have enjoyed multiple books on this topic lately but yours is the first that feels empowering rather than overwhelming.
—Amy Goldsmith, Climate librarian
This wonderful book has a humble title. 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, Ecologist, 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 is 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 wish I’d had an operator’s manual when I started planting my own meadow. Lawns Into Meadows (2nd edition) is among two recently published books that can provide that for gardeners who are rethinking their landscapes, by helping them maintain realistic expectations while they’re transitioning to a wilder style—and facing what can sometimes feel like spontaneity incarnate.
-Margaret Roach, If you stop mowing this May, will your lawn turn into a meadow? The New York Times
I have yet to get started transforming my remaining lawn into meadow, but with books like Owen’s “Lawns Into Meadows,” I know where to begin. His book walks you through the steps beautifully, simply and logically.
-Joe Lamp’l, Joe the Gardener, Podcast interview with Owen
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
For those interested in trading their lawn for a low-maintenance, environmentally friendly alternative that will support wildlife and reduce pollution from mowing, all the necessary information is here, along with plenty of sources to support it.
-Anne Heidemann, Booklist
This focused and easy to read book is full of useful and practical information. It contains advice on how best to prep, plant and maintain meadows, along with a list of tools you’ll need, and even guidance on how to become a meadow activist.
How to plant and grow a meadow -Martha Stewart
E X C E R P T
“A meadow is what can happen when you give the earth a chance to heal itself. ”
I’m checking in on a meadow project of mine. It’s late September in western Massachusetts. The sunlight pours through a clear sky with all the vigor of a summer day as I watch a monarch butterfly land on a spike of bluish-purple anise hyssop, and drink from it. For monarchs, which can travel thousands of miles to reach their winter homes, this meadow is like a gas station that lets them refuel on their journey south… continue reading.
A U T H O R & I L L U S T R A T O R
Owen Wormser earned a degree in landscape architecture and quickly adopted regenerative, low-maintenance practices in designing and building landscapes. Based in Western Massachusetts, his company, Abound Design, provides design, consulting, and installation services. He also runs a nonprofit that provides educational resources, and hosts workshops on regenerative growing.
Kristen Thompson is an illustrator, gardener, environmentalist, and writer based in New Jersey. She has been taking art classes since middle school and studied at the Parsons Pre-College Academy and the Putney Summer Arts Program. She has studied edible perennial landscaping, and designed an illustrated field guide to native plants.
