Lawnscapes: Mowing Patterns to Make Your Yard a Work of Art

If there is someone in your circle of friends who simply cannot give up his manicured lawn, regardless of its drain on water and energy resources and its lack of any meaningful contribution to the environment, consider this quirky (and, we hope, tongue-in-cheek) guide to turning a lawn into a work of art.

David Parfitt describes the procedures for transferring designs from paper to lawn, using nothing more than a lawnmower, measuring string, and a few wooden stakes. First explaining why mowing leaves turf grass striped, Parfitt takes that notion and runs with it—or rather mows with it—to create designs ranging from simple stripes and diamonds to more elaborate representations of ribbons, knotwork, valentine hearts, Christmas trees—and even Botticelli’s “Venus-on-the-Half-Shell.”

Admittedly, none of the photos of lawns so mowed are of actual lawns, so it would be difficult to say that his ideas really work, but Parfitt can’t be faulted for originality and imagination.

Richard G Turner Jr, editor