Above: Sara & Evan Cooper’s front landscape as of summer 2024, two years after starting the transition from turf grass.
Lawn to Meadow: Transition with a “Light Touch”
Larry Weaner, FAPLD & Sara Weaner Cooper
No chemical use, no hauling, no digging, no smothering - no early-stage ugly phase.
Sounds too good to be true.
Yet by gradually applying a series of light touch actions, you can achieve this organic transition without breaking your back, sparking ecological angst, or infuriating your neighbors. These actions can include timed mowing, selective height cutting, pH manipulation, and organic herbicide application.
In this session, Sara will discuss her lawn to meadow conversion (featured in The New York Times, 2024), including 2025 updates and plans, illustrating a homeowner’s perspective. Larry will explore case studies exemplifying the technical underpinnings behind this approach, from a landscape designer's perspective. This brains over brawn approach can transform the experience of creating residential meadows from daunting to uplifting.
Friday, May 9th, 2025 | 6:00 - 7:15 PM ET
Category: Home gardener
Fee: $28
Click Series Overview below for details about:
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Registration open & recording viewable for 3 months after live date.
Instructor Bios:
Larry Weaner, FAPLD, founded Larry Weaner Landscape Associates in 1982 and New Directions in the American Landscape in 1990. His nationally recognized work combines horticulture, landscape design, and ecological restoration, and spans more than twenty U.S. states and the U.K. He has been profiled in national publications. Larry’s approach to landscape design appeals to audiences nationwide. He has presented at American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) national and state meetings, Cultural Landscape Foundation tours, the Garden Writers Association National Conference, the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, the New York Botanical Garden, and the National Arboretum in Washington, DC, among others. His book, Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change (Timber Press 2016), co-authored with Tom Christopher, received an American Horticultural Society (AHS) Book Award in 2017. In 2021 he received the AHS Landscape Design Award and the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) Award of Distinction.
Sara Weaner Cooper, New Directions in the American Landscape (NDAL)'s executive director, began her role with NDAL in 2018 as educational program coordinator. She holds a M.A. in anthropology and education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.A. in anthropology and education from Bryn Mawr College. One of her passions and long-term goals is to work with schools on eco-cultural land stewardship curricula. In September of 2024, her and her husband Evan Cooper’s home landscape was featured in The New York Times article by Margaret Roach, which illustrates an experimental yet highly successful organic transition from lawn to native meadow. Sara has presented about this transition for the Ecological Landscape Alliance’s Annual Conference, Grow Native MA, and the Southern Adirondack Audubon Society. In 2024 NDAL received the American Horticultural Society (AHS) Award for Horticultural Innovation, which recognizes an individual/organization “whose innovations have made the field of horticulture more sustainable and accessible to all.”