Lawns are one of the most important elements of the traditional garden landscape, and they remain popular today. But the scale has changed — instead of wide expanses of turf, you're likely to find cool, green pockets that share the garden equally with other plants.

The contemporary lawn

Once upon a time, much of the available garden space was devoted to lawn. In recent years, however, there has been a grass-roots movement (pun intended!) to make lawns smaller. In parts of the country where substantial summer watering is needed just to keep lawns alive, local officials urge gardeners to reduce the area planted with grass in an effort to bring down water use (some experts suggest that current lawn coverage should be reduced by 25% to 30%). Shrinking lot sizes, too, have forced many gardeners to rethink the value of a lawn. It was once rare to see a home with no front lawn--but more and more, the green turf is giving way to shrubs, flowers, ground covers, or even vegetable beds.

Smaller lawns also mean less time spent on upkeep and maintenance. New, lightweight push mowers make it easy to keep a small lawn trimmed. Among power mowers, battery-operated models are quiet and nonpolluting, require less maintenance than gas mowers, and eliminate the annoyance of tripping over electric cords while mowing. Hybrid grasses are being developed for every climate that grow more slowly than their predecessors — and thus require less frequent mowing.

Of course, lawns continue to play a useful role, providing a pleasant setting for outdoor activities and a safe place for children to play. But one study suggests that just 600 square feet of lawn is sufficient for most activities. Reducing the size of your lawn is easily accomplished by extending the beds surrounding the grass farther into the lawn by a few feet, then filling the reclaimed area with appropriate plants of your choice. You can also convert the center of the lawn to a planting bed using a garden hose as your design tool.