Cool season grasses start growth at 5 °C, and grow at their fastest rate when temperatures are between 10-25 °C (Huxley 1992), in climates that have relatively mild/cool summers, with two periods of rapid growth in the spring and autumn. They retain their color well in extreme cold and typically grow very dense, carpetlike lawns with relatively little thatch.

• Bluegrass
• Bentgrass
• Ryegrasses
• Fescues
• bluegrass

Warm season grasses only start growth at temperatures above 10 °C, and grow fastest when temperatures are between 25 °C and 35 °C, with one long growth period over the spring and summer (Huxley 1992). They often go dormant in cooler months, turning shades of tan or brown. Many warm season grasses are quite drought tolerant, and can handle very high summer temperatures, although temperatures below -15 °C can kill most warm season grasses.

• Zoysiagrass
• Bermudagrass
• St. Augustine grass
• Bahiagrass
• Centipedegrass
• Carpetgrass
• Buffalograss
• Grama grass

Maintaining higher quality lawns may require special maintenance procedures:

• Mowing regularly with a sharp blade at an even height.
• Not mowing when lawn is wet.
• Not removing more than 30% to 40% of the plant tissue.
• Alternating the direction of cut from previous mowing.
• Scarifying and raking, to remove dead grass and prevent tufting.
• Rolling, (to encourage tillering (branching of grass plants) and to level the ground).
• Top dressing with sand, soil or other material.
• Spiking or aeration (to relieve compaction of the soil).
• Additional watering.
• Fertilizing application.
• Organic or synthetic pesticide application.
• It must be noted that there is often heavy social pressure to mow one’s lawn regularly.

Spring or early summer is the time to seed, sod, or sprig a yard, when the ground is warmer. For a new lawn, adding a fresh load of topsoil to the ground is beneficial. Seeding the lawn is the least expensive way to plant, but it takes longer for the lawn to grow and usually needs daily watering, or the freshly-sprouted grass will die. Sodding is more expensive, but it will provide an almost instant lawn that can be planted in most climate zones in any season. Hydroseeding is a relatively quick and inexpensive method of planting. A nitrogen-based, slow-release fertilizer may be applied, when needed. Pesticides, which is an umbrella term that include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, may be considered for use on lawns when required, and where legal. In Canada, over 130 municipalities and the province of Quebec prohibit the use of synthetic lawn pesticides. Although synthetic pesticides exist, organic solutions are increasingly being used. For example, corn gluten meal controls weed seeds by releasing an organic dipeptide into the soil and inhibiting root formation of germinating weed seeds. An application of beneficial nematodes can be used to combat grubs.

Summer lawn care requires raising the lawn mower for cool season grass, and lowering it for warm season lawns. Lawns will require longer and more frequent watering, best done in early morning to encourage a stronger root system. This is also the time to apply an all-purpose fertilizer. During the hot summer months, lawns may be susceptible to fungus disease. It’s advisable to take a sod sample to a local landscape expert for testing and treating the yard, if necessary.

In the autumn, lawns can be mowed at a lower height and thatch buildup that occurs in warm season grasses should be removed, although lawn experts are divided in their opinions on this. This is also a good time to add a sandy loam and apply fertilizer, one that contains some type of wetting agent. Cool season lawns can be planted in autumn if there is adequate rainfall.

Lawn care in the winter is minimal, requiring only light feedings of organic material, such as green-waste compost, and minerals to encourage earthworms and beneficial microbes.

One simpler solution to flower garden design, growing in popularity, is the pre-planned “wildflower” seed mix. Assortments of seeds are created which will create a bed that contains flowers of various blooming seasons, so that some portion of them should always be in bloom. The best mixtures even include combinations of perennial and biennials, which may not bloom until the following year, and also annuals that are “self-seeding”, so they will return, creating a permanent flowerbed.

Another, even more recent trend is the “flower garden in a box”, where the entire design of a flower garden is pre-packaged, with separate packets of each kind of flower, and a careful layout to be followed to create the proposed pattern of color in the garden-to-be.

Garden owners have shown an increasing interest in garden design during the late twentieth century, both as enthusiasts of gardening as a hobby, as well as an expansion in the use of professional garden designers. Sissinghurst, one of the most admired gardens made in the twentieth century, was designed by its owners: Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West.

The term gardener is also used to describe garden designers and landscape gardeners, who are involved chiefly in the design of gardens, rather than the practical aspects of horticulture.

Gardening has a long history, and there have been many pioneering gardeners of note, from the great landscape gardeners of the 18th century, to those who created or expanded the idea of the “no-dig” garden. In addition, television lifestyle programs have spawned a number of celebrity gardeners.

The term landsape architect is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to landscape gardeners, landscape designers, architects, surveyors or engineers, probably due to the fact that this is a relatively recent profession in terms of licensing. Landscape architecture was not commonly recognised in developed nations as a distinct profession until the early twentieth century. Despite the efforts of landscape architects, it is still not unusual for a building architect to be commissioned to provide landscape architectural services.

The term landscape architect has different meaning depending on location; however, in general the title (like architect or engineer) is usually protected and to practice landscape architecture one requires licensure or registration. This varies by location, for example some US states offer “practice acts” and some offer “title acts”. Each refers to the limitations placed on persons who are and are not licensed.

See traditional types of eastern gardens, such as Zen gardens, use plants such as parsley. Xeriscape gardens use local native plants that do not require irrigation or extensive use of other resources while still providing the benefits of a garden environment. Gardens may exhibit structural enhancements, sometimes called follies, including water features such as fountains, ponds (with or without fish), waterfalls or creeks, dry creek beds, statuary, arbors, trellises and more.

Some gardens are for ornamental purposes only, while some gardens also produce food crops, sometimes in separate areas, or sometimes intermixed with the ornamental plants. Food-producing gardens are distinguished from farms by their smaller scale, more labor-intensive methods, and their purpose (enjoyment of a hobby rather than produce for sale).

Gardening is the activity of growing and maintaining the garden. This work is done by an amateur or professional gardener. A gardener might also work in a non-garden setting, such as a park, a roadside embankment, or other public space. Landscape architecture is a related professional activity with landscape architects tending to specialise in design for public and corporate clients.

The term “garden” in British English refers to an enclosed area of land, usually adjoining a building. This would be referred to as a yard in American English. Flower gardens combine plants of different heights, colors, textures, and fragrances to create interest and delight the senses.

Before the invention of mowing machines in the early 1830’s, lawns were managed very differently. Lawns belonging to wealthy people were sometimes maintained by the labour-intensive methods of scything and shearing—in most cases, however, they were pasture land which was maintained through grazing by sheep or other livestock. Areas of grass grazed regularly by rabbits, horses or sheep over a long period often form a very low, tight sward similar to a modern lawn. This was the original meaning of the word “lawn”, and the term can still be found in place-names. Some forest areas where extensive grazing is practiced still have these semi-natural lawns. For example, in the New Forest, England, such grazed areas are common and are known as lawns, for example Balmer Lawn.

Lawns became popular in Europe from the Middle Ages onward. The early lawns were not always distinguishable from pasture fields. It is thought that the associations with pasture and the biblical connotations of this word made them attractive culturally. By contrast, they are little-known or used in this form in other traditions of gardening. In addition, the damp climate of maritime Western Europe made them easier to grow and manage than in other regions.

It was not until the Tudor and Elizabethan times that the garden and the lawn became a place to be loved and admired. Created as walkways and for play areas, the lawns were not as we envisage them today. They were made up of meadow plants, such as camomile, a particular favourite. In the early 1600s the Jacobean epoch of gardening began. It was during this period that the closely-cut “English” lawn was born. By the end of this period, the English lawn was the envy of even the French; it was also seen as a symbol of status by the gentry. In the early 1700s, gardening fashion went through a further change. William Kent and the age of Capability Brown were in progress, and the open “English” style of parkland was seen across Britain and Ireland. Lawns seemed to flow from the garden into the outer landscape.

During Victorian times, as more plants were introduced into Britain and the influence of France and Italy became prevalent, lawns became smaller as borders were created and filled with plants, statues, sculptures, terraces and water features, which started encroaching onto the area covered by the lawn. In the United States, it was not until after the Civil War that lawns began to appear outside middle-class residences. Most people did not have the hired labor needed to cut a field of grass with scythes; average home owners either raised vegetables in their yards or left them alone. If weeds sprouted that was fine. Toward the end of the 19th century, suburbs appeared on the American scene, along with the sprinkler, greatly improved lawn mowers, new ideas about landscaping and a shorter workweek.

Lawns do not have to be, and have not always been, made up of grass alone. Other plants for fine lawns in the right conditions are camomile and thyme. Some lawns, if grown in difficult conditions for grasses, become dominated by whatever weeds can survive there; these include clovers in dry conditions, and moss in damp shady conditions. In more recent times, especially in suburban residential areas, a lawn may refer to an area surrounding a home where some or all of the natural grass or sod has been removed and replaced with artificial turf, stones, mulch, or some other material determined by the homeowner to reduce maintenance and/or water consumption.