Miriam Goldberger is an enthusiast. She is passionate about the environment and the benefits of using native plants and wildflowers to preserve and enhance landscapes. She also developed Eco-Lawn, which is not only an advance in environmentally friendly lawns, it is also perfect for use in containers.
1. Please tell us about your background and how you started Wildflower Farm?
Wildflower Farm grew out of a dream I had to be surrounded by acres and acres of flowers. Back in the 80’s (yes I am THAT old!) I fell in love with the process of growing plants from seed. Such a miracle – every time!! My husband, three kids and I moved from Toronto to a funky motorcycle gang’s crash digs. We picked glass and car parts out of the ground for years and built acres and acres of gardens. In its early phases, Wildflower Farm was a wholesale dried flower production company. Then, we became Canada’s first 'Pick Your Own Flower Farm.' Tending acres and acres of flowers, I needed low maintenance store-front gardens. So I designed, grew and planted wildflower and native grass gardens because they needed no watering or fertilizing. Customers fell in love with this low maintenance, sustainable approach and before we knew it we were growing and selling lots of wildflower plants, seeds and meadow mixes.
2. How did you go from flowers to developing Eco-Lawn?
That’s a funny story. For many years Wildflower Farm had a landscaping division that installed our wildflower meadow mixes for clients. These clients were blown away with the drastic contrast between the amount of work and money it took to maintain their regular grass and the easy maintenance of their meadows. Our landscaping clients began begging us to develop a lawn that was as easy to take care of as their wildflower meadows.
3. How long did it take you to develop Eco-Lawn?
My partner Paul and I literally stumbled onto the answer one day while walking in the woods! We noticed the fine blades of grass that grow naturally in the woods and in open meadows. These are fine fescue grasses. We spent several years experimenting with these fine fescues until we came up with the Eco-Lawn formula. That was 15 years ago.
4. What makes Eco-Lawn different from regular grass?
Eco-Lawn’s really different from regular grass! It germinates fast but grows slowly so it needs mowing just once a month or not at all. It grows well in the sun, the shade, deep shade and even under pine trees. Because the blades are so fine, left uncut, the blades fall over instead of growing vertically – creating a lush, green river effect. And fine fescue grasses have super deep roots so they source water and nutrients. That means minimum watering and fertilizing.
More on Eco-Lawn
More on Eco-Lawn
