Mini Meadows

Ive been hear a lot about the bees and conveniently I also hate mowing my law. I’m also too cheap to pay someone to water, fertilize and cut this 3 season brown patch of earth, just so that my HOA can continue to support the ideals of the British Monarchy through lawn care. Instead, this book presents an alternative idea to the typical green lawn—your own flowering meadow! I was honestly surprised by the thoroughness of this book. There are step by step instructions with correlating photos for what looks like the easiest planting method I’ve seen. But I really like the pages on “what to expect in the first 30, 60, 90 days”. There’s even a section on which flowers freely reseeding (free plants for the future) and which plants were perennials (forever seasonal flowers). This book has recommendations for flowers in swampy yards, flowers for dry clay yards like mine, and several other soil types too. Beyond the soil types, this book also covered growing regions. From the Northeast to Pacific Northwest, this book gave recommendations for flowers that will grow best in all the major growing regions. But if you don’t have acreage to grow on, no worries, can plant a mini meadow in an pot or in a tiny patch for your kids to play in. If you want the easiest way to feed the bees, forget the lawnmower and plant a meadow full of flowers! I’m really inspired to get a bag of native wildflower seeds from the author’s website, americanmeadows.com and you should too! (And NO they didn’t pay me for this review. I really enjoyed this book so much that I’m sending a copy to each of my sisters.)

First thing I do when I get a gardening book: flip through and look at the photos. This book is so appealing and easy to navigate, with beautiful photographs. Sections include: "Stabilizing Plants for Hillsides," "Drought Tolerant Meadow Plants," and "Deer-Resistant Meadow Plants." Learn about soil, pollinators, grasses. All you need to know without being overwhelmed. Any small plot of earth can inspire a mini-meadow!

Gorgeous photos, though I would have appreciated more in-depth how-to info with regard to flower varieties. The pictures are bright and cheerful, though, and I’m hoping my wildflower meadow will be just as lovely.

This is a very good book in explaining how to create a mini meadow or meadows in small and large spaces.

I have a ton of gardening books as I am planning my yard in the mountains of western NC this year. I expected to get a few more nuggets from Mini Meadows. When it came, I sat down to scan it and started reading. I didn't stop until I finished--it's that good! It has specific suggestions for plants in various conditions and regions and is up to date on current practices for attracting pollinators and wildlife as well as growing native plants, including grasses. If you want to make your yard more interesting, better for our environment and less sterile, this is the book for you!

Easy to browse, get some good ideas from. I’ve got a wildlife garden, this book helped me come up with ideas for some neglected areas.

I'll be planning NOW, and planting along the way very soon as soon as moar dandelions are demolished! And new year the lower backyard will all be a DARLING meadow, you can BET!

This is a good book to get ideas about what you can do, with plenty of colorful photos, but I would have appreciated some more complete guides to individual plants or plant types--the part in a vegetable gardening book that lists plants from Asparagus to Zucchini. Lacking that here, you have to skip around a lot and it is hard to figure out if a particular plant is an annual, biennial, or perennial. Or how big it is. Or whether you buy it from seed or transplant it. You'll have to go to other sources or online to draw things together for planning.

Lovely

A great book that really explains what has to be done to build a meadow and minimize mowing. The steps are important to understand to get it right.