Blog party for Lawn Gone and Cobra tool giveaway

Lawn Gone book cover

Pam Penick, who started the Garden Blogger Flings with the first one in Austin, TX, has some solutions for those of you conflicted about your water and chemical guzzling front lawns. She’s written a new book, Lawn Gone!: Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard, which offers great design ideas for lawn replacement that your neighbors won’t mind.

These include:

• alternative grasses that seldom (or never) need mowing;
• drought-tolerant, eco-friendly landscapes;
• regional plant recommendations for all parts of the country;
• artificial turf that looks like the real thing;
• step-by-step lawn-removal methods;
• strategies for dealing with neighbors and HOAs; and
• ways to decrease your lawn if you’re not ready to go all the way.

Living in Austin, TX, Pam understands what drought really means, and because I visited her former home, I can attest that the lawn-less area in front of her home was lovely.

Bio Markers set

In connection with the blog party we’re hosting for Pam, I get to give away Cobra Tools. Yay!  This prize package includes: a CobraHead Weeder and Cultivator, a CobraHead Long Handle Weeder and Cultivator, and a set of 15 BioMarker weatherproof plant markers (valued at $115). Owning several of my own CobraHeads, I can tell you they are wonderful. The contest ends this Sunday at 11:59 p.m., and winners will be picked by a random number generator and announced the following Monday at Noon. Comment below to enter.

Combination of the long and short-handled Cobra head tools perfect for tearing out grass.

The following blogs are also participating, and they are hosting their own giveaways. Comment on each of them and tweet out the various contests to win. Let’s all help our friend, Pam, launch her book with great success. Congrats Pam. I’m so excited for you.

Rebecca at Gossip in the Garden is giving away a 5-lb bag of   Eco-Lawn seed (valued at $55), donated by Wildflower Farm in Ontario, Canada.  I’ve seen several Eco-Lawns in person and let me just say they’re a stunning lush, beautiful and sustainable turf alternative consisting of fine fescues (they rarely needs mowing, too!).  Perfect for milder climates. This giveaway is available to readers in Canada as well as the U.S.

Loree Bohl of Danger Garden is giving away a $50 gift card from Plant Delights, a mail-order nursery that’s a plant lover’s dream. Since 1988, Plant Delights Nursery has been the choice of serious gardeners and plant collectors looking for the best and rarest perennial plants. They have an enticing selection of groundcovers, ornamental grasses, and small perennials, all of which make excellent substitutes for lawn grass.As a nod to cultivating a moss “lawn” in lieu of grass, Meems at Hoe & Shovel is giving away an adorable Moss Rock in a medium/Cobble size and Toadstool color (valued at $30). Moss Rocks are living sculptures and zen moss gardens all rolled into one. Donated by Moss and Stone Gardens, a design firm in Raleigh, N.C., specializing in moss landscapes.Genevieve Schmidt at North Coast Gardening is giving away a $50 gift certificate to the charming and tempting online nursery Annie’s Annuals. Annie’s specializes in rare and unusual annual and perennial plants, including cottage garden heirlooms and native wildflowers. They also have a wonderful selection of grasses and succulents, which make great substitutes for lawn.Ready to seed a No Mow lawn? Benjamin Vogt at The Deep Middle is giving away a 5-lb. bag of No Mow Lawn seed mix from Prairie Nursery (valued at $35). Prairie Nursery’s specially designed blend of fine fescue grasses is an ecological alternative to a traditional, high-energy-input lawn. No Mow grows in sun and shade and also performs well as a footpath or border with moderate traffic. With deep roots, it’s drought tolerant and well suited to regions with temperate to average summers.Author Pam Penick, at Digging, is giving away the only patch of lawn you may ever need – a tongue-in-cheek, 13×13-inch “grass” pillow (valued at $60) from Potted, a stylish Los Angeles garden shop and online store. Made from a high-quality synthetic grass, with Sunbrella fabric on the back, these pillows stand up to life out-of-doors beautifully. And doesn’t it look comfortable? Plus you’ll never have to mow this bit of lawn.

Oh, one more thing, the publisher sent me Pam’s book for review.

UPDATE!!!

Wayne is our winner. He is a follower of Danger Garden blog. Congratulations Wayne. I am sending your information on to Pam at Digging. Look in the mail soon for your prizes.