Sunday, July 17, 2022

Now, THAT'S a front yard!

Google Street View in May 2022

We were on our way to a hiking location here in North New Jersey, and  on the way we passed by some fairly upscale communities. Most had wide front lawns, the grasses kept immaculately low to the ground, with occasional homes sporting large ornamental grasses like Miscanthus sinensis and Calamagrostis cultivars.

But suddenly, I gasped and pointed at something to my fellow passengers in the car. One of the houses had a front yard that was absolutely wild. Lots of tall stately grasses waved in the wind, and there were so many of the tall grasses and shrubs and forbs that the house itself was almost obscured from view.

Unfortunately, we did not have time to stop, but I made a quick mental note of some landmarks around us. When I got home later, I used google street view to try to find the home again, although I was thinking it was a long shot. But amazingly enough, the house front yard was so distinctive I actually did manage to locate it! 

The google street view image was from spring of this year, so the plants were not as high as they are now, and thus not as majestic. But there was no doubt that I had found the right house.

I thought it was charming and daring of this homeowner to go against the grain by not using the usual turf grasses, and I liked the overall effect. But one of my passengers had exclaimed "It's like a jungle!" 

Oh well, you can't please everyone!

UPDATE (2022-07-23)

I managed to take a pic of the front lawn as it looks now, and it looks great. Sorry for the quality of the photo, but I was just using my smartphone at the time. Love the masses of Calamagrostis!


5 comments:

David and Marian said...

Jungles are fun! Hope to see more of this kind of thing over time.

Hollis said...

I approve! My yard is a jungle too, but only to short-grass prairie height :)

BanyanWanderer said...

I LOVE ornamental grasses, and I added an updated pic of the front lawn that shows how nicely they incorporated these into their design.

BanyanWanderer said...

Short grass, tall grass, I love them all. I added an updated photo from a couple days back that shows how nicely their front lawn has grown.

Hollis said...

That's wonderful, looks really inviting to me. And probably to other kinds of animals too :)