My column this week suggests doing something that violates one
of the major doctrines of these United States. No, I
’m not quite suggesting that we all stop eating apple pie or
that we begin a movement to make soccer our recognized national
pastime.
My column this week suggests doing something that violates one of the major doctrines of these United States. No, I’m not quite suggesting that we all stop eating apple pie or that we begin a movement to make soccer our recognized national pastime.
I’m suggesting today that we tear up our lawns. That’s right, tear them up and replace them with native plants that look good, require less maintenance, and, most importantly, use less water.
Where did we get such a preoccupation with vast green lawns? Yes, there is something regal about a large patch of uniformly manicured bright green turf. However, there is also something regal about Rolls Royces and Bentleys and we don’t all put one of those in front of our houses. While lawns may be very appropriate for the eastern United States, where summer showers are frequent and irrigation needs are minimal, this is the west and summer showers appear as often as blue moons and water is scarce.
In addition to the water needed to make a lawn look decent, a truly beautiful lawn is usually fed a high fat diet of chemicals. Unfortunately, a significant amount of those herbicides and fertilizers make their way off of the lawn and enter our streams and ultimately make their way to the ocean and into the marine life that we later consume. Yech!
So, exactly what are our alternatives? I’m not suggesting that you have a nonmaintained yard that becomes a neighborhood eyesore. It is very possible to have a lovely lawn-free landscape that relies on native plants, appropriate nonnatives, and a variety of nonliving landscaping materials like bark, stepping stones, and walking paths. We have free resources available here at City Hall to help you plan your landscape and check out the web sites listed below for more resource ideas. Our local library also has lots of great gardening books.
Eco-Fact of the Week: It’s not uncommon for homeowners in L.A. to dump 65,000 gallons annually on their yards. Before you say, “but that’s LA,” keep in mind that our climate here is not all that different!
Eco-Web Pages of the Week: There are many great web resources on this topic. For starters, there is a tour on April 18 of South Bay gardens that feature native plants and minimal lawns. To learn more, visit www.goingnativegardentour.com/ . If the tour isn’t for you, do check out the other links listed on that page. For other “no lawn” articles, check out www.sptimes.com/2003/10/14/Floridian/Telling_the_lawn_good.shtml for a Florida perspective or www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-lawn18may04,1,6472303.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dmagazine for a good story in the LA Times. (Note: you may need to register to read the Times story – but it’s free.) (Tip: rather than trying to type out these nasty URL, go to my column on the MH Times website at www.morganhilltimes.com and copy and paste the URL into your browser to get to the stories.)
Anthony Eulo is an assistant to the city manager for the City of Morgan Hill who plans to eliminate his front lawn once his rear yard is landscaped enough for his kids to play ball there. He welcomes your questions, comments, and thoughts and can be reached at en*****@************ca.gov or 779-7247.
