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Index of Subjects
Index of Subjects Joan asked, "I wonder when large lawns became a status symbol? I have a fascinating book on that topic: "The Lawn: A History of an American Obsession" by Virginia Scott Jenkins, published by the Smithsonian Institution Press in 1994. Jenkins says that the lawn as we know it now is a product of the American suburbs of the 1950s. However, the idea of lawn got its start at the end of the 18th century, when a few upper class Americans tried to imitate the landscaping style of English and French country estates. (As it happens, this landscaping style is spectacularly unsuitable to growing conditions in most of North America, but apparently the attraction of lawn-as-status-symbol was already far stronger than the counter-argument of lawn-as-pain-in-the-neck.) Within 100 years, the popularity of lawn had trickled down to the American upper middle class. However, by this time the style already looked almost nothing like the aristocratic European landscapes that originally inspired it. European visitors to North America in the 19th century regarded the American front lawn as "strange," according to Jenkins. In the 20th century, the lawn was adopted by the middle middle class, which took it along as the suburbs were developed, making lawn the conventional style of landscaping for conventional suburban housing throughout North America. The popularity of lawns was encouraged by the growing popularity of golf, which helped to funnel money into development of tools, chemicals, and special seed mixes required to maintain lawns (especially in environments to which they're not suited). A third influence was increasing affluence and the 40-hour work week--because of these, the North American middle class now had the time and money necessary to maintain those lawns. Today lawn care is a multi-billion dollar industry that benefits from the widespread, yet questionable, notion that a well-maintained lawn is a status symbol. Wild Flora
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Index of Subjects