Lawn Became Essential for a Home
James Vick’s seed catalog of the 1870s from Rochester, NY sold the lawn mower, which, of course, assumed the importance of the lawn.
Rose Standish Nichols says in her book English Pleasure Gardens that the lawn was beginning to take a central feature in the garden during the reign of James I (1603-25) and the reign of his son Charles 1 (1625-1649). English garden style also assumed the presence of the bowling green, or a special grassed area for playing bowls. Nichols writes: “A garden with any pretensions was always supplemented by a bowling-green, usually shaded by trees and varying in proportions.”
The lawn became essential in English garden style for anyone with taste.
The 19th century American seed companies and nurseries sold lawn seed for the grass each landscape needed. The companies sold us the English style of landscape with its lawn which, by then, had become the most recognizable feature of the English landscape.
Today the lawn is difficult to maintain in many parts of the country, but we feel it is important. Perhaps because the seed and nursery companies of the 19th century were such great salesmen.
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