 |
| This graphic makes the point about how out-of-step people are for trying to maintain unnatural&unsustainable lawns. |
To celebrate Earth Day, this post is about rethinking the "perfect" lawns, which are maintained with applications of fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, and never allowed to go into seasonal dormancy. In Florida winter-dormant grasses are over-seeded with cool-weather grasses, irrigated through the dry season, & fertilized.
Today's lawn expectations go way back to how European formal gardens & lawns around castles and manor houses were kept to show others how wealthy the owners were.
Today, lawn-"care" organizations can make lots of money by encouraging homeowners to have "perfect" lawns, but does it make sense or cents? As a botanist, naturalist, and a sustainable gardener, I would say, "NO!"
There are so many reasons for replacing most of your lawn acreage with unpoisoned native habitat & pollinator gardens and then freeing the remainder of your lawn from all pesticides & synthetic fertilizers, mowing it less often at the highest setting, letting it go dormant in the winter & allow a variety of plants that tolerate mowing to grow there.
 |
 |
| Many people have been poisoning their own yards in search of an unnatural monoculture lawn. | Landscape-wide pesticide & fertilizer applications are polluting our waterways. |
I've described our "Freedom Lawn" before, but this time I'm sharing a sad case study of a failed quest for a perfect lawn. This property is on our walking route, so my husband & I have been passing this yard most days we're home in our North Florida neighborhood since 2004. (FYI, I've modified my photos by erasing the house, cars, most other identifying features.) We have seen that they have sodded and resodded their large (almost an acre) front lawn at least 4 times since 2020, but in spring 2026, there are lots of non-grass plants and many large, bare spots.
A Quest for a Perfect Lawn: a Case Study
 |
| Fairly new sodding in 2021. This was at least the 2nd sodding. |
 |
 |
| They removed at least 8 mature trees (mostly live oaks and magnolias) in 2022. | Grass was stripped away yet again in 2022 after removal of the trees. |
 |
| Overall view in spring 2026... |
 |
| There were many bare spots and a diversity of non-grass plants in spring 2026. |
Over the years this family has spent many thousands of dollars on sodding and by cutting down so many trees, their yard is now warmer in the summer, so their air conditioning bills are higher. In addition, they have reduced habitat for birds & pollinators and their lawn looks worse now than before they started their quest for a "perfect lawn." For the science on how trees cool the air read, "Transpiration: Forests' Most Important Service."
So won't you work with me and others to help convince people, municipalities, and HOAs that highly maintained lawns are not necessary or desirable? There are sooo many reasons to rethink the lawn.
Green Gardening Matters
Ginny Stibolt
GreenGardeningMatters.com
No comments:
Post a Comment