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Index of Subjects I've been trying to locate a book published about five years ago about the lawns in our lives. It’s a British book and I remember the review I read, I think was in the Times and covered the sociological and historical look at lawns. It’s a sore point with me. I am the president of a Halifax condo and the owners think the grass should look like a golf green( the chemical kind). I keep meaning to ask Terry Paquettes brother who is librarian at the ag college, whether he has heard of it. Its awful that we human beings are held to ransom by grass Joan Waldron -----Original Message----- From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] On Behalf Of Wild Flora Sent: Sunday, June 17, 2007 4:21 PM To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca Subject: RE: [NatureNS] Lawn flowers/weeds Thanks, Jane, for making the point that the notion that every man is entitled to his own plot of land came out of the English Arts and Crafts movement. What I find even more interesting, however, is to look at how differently that idea was executed in England as opposed to what happened to it in the North American suburbs. I have a special connection to this topic because my grandparents lived in a tiny house outside of London, built pre-WWII in what would then have been the British equivalent of suburbs. Their little plot probably exemplified the Arts & Crafts ideal: There was almost nothing in front of the house except a fence and a wisteria vine that covered the front of the house. Their yard, which was very small by North American standards, was all behind the house. It consisted of large, very tidy flower beds that could be viewed only from private family rooms at the back of the house, behind which was an intensively managed vegetable and fruit garden that allowed my grandparents to produce much of their own food. The difference between this vision of what a middle-class landscape is supposed to be and that of Americans in the 20th century is dramatic: In the English version, landscaping supports an ideal of self-sufficiency and private enjoyment of one's labour, in keeping with the ideals of the Arts & Crafts movement; the nearly blank façade presented to the world is designed to reinforce the notion that the home is a highly private, family-oriented space. In contrast, the American suburban lawn is a highly public statement of the owner's ability to afford a resource-intensive landscape that serves little or no practical purpose, in keeping with the ideal of "conspicuous consumption" that was first identified by Thorstein Veblen in 1899. Also, in its defining (1950s) form, the American lawn is never fenced and was often paired with a gigantic "picture" window on the front of the house. The result is that, instead of screening the family from public view, this landscape actually puts the family on display for anyone to see. WF -----Original Message----- From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] On Behalf Of David&Jane Schlosberg Sent: Sunday, June 17, 2007 2:40 PM To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca Subject: RE: [NatureNS] Lawn flowers/weeds And don't forget, the whole suburban cottage idea came out of the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 20th century, begun in England. This concept, as I understand it, had to do with the rise of the middle class as a result of the industrial revolution. People felt that "a man's home is his castle." Everyone should have this little heavenly haven to come home to after work. Probably, the wealthy, educated men who conceived of and promoted this idea had gardeners. Cheers. Jane -----Original Message----- From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca]On Behalf Of Wild Flora Sent: Sunday, June 17, 2007 8:03 AM To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca Subject: RE: [NatureNS] Lawn flowers/weeds 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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