Blades of glory wilt amid waterwise era
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Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO) (Published as Rocky Mountain News (CO)) – March 10, 2007Browse Issues
- Author/Byline: Mary Winter
- Edition: Final
- Section: Home Front
- Page: 2HOMEFRONT
- Readability: 9-12 grade level (Lexile: 1110)
There are basically two ways to look at your yard: carpet or canvas.
I’m from the carpet school. Get some sod, slap it down, water the living daylights out of it, sprinkle fertilizer, run a machine over it once a month and you’re good to go for at least 15 years.
Small wonder the lawn carpet is the most popular form of yard treatment in America.
There’s so much to love.
Lawn comes in one color, so you don’t have to mess with swatches or samples or end up with a shade that doesn’t quite match the house next door.
Unlike cars and appliances, lawns don’t break down or clog up. They don’t beep at you or need to be programmed. They don’t come with inch-thick manuals written in inscrutably translated Chinese.
You can leave ’em out in the rain. In fact, rain improves them. One of the biggest joys of home ownership is watching that emerald sea of moist, fat blades swell up after a summer downpour as you light the grill and pull on a tall, cold brewski.
Oh, I know, I’ve groused in the past about having to water my lawn, dragging hoses, doctoring bald spots and adhering to the city’s drought schedule.
But today, as I look at the glacier in my backyard, I see that, yes, it is retreating, and my spirits soar to think that spring is just around the corner and soon I won’t need a backhoe to take out the trash.
Lawn, how I have missed you.
But alas, smoke signals are on the horizon, and the message is not friendly:
America’s lawns are under assault.
Read how the Associated Press bashed lawns this week – in its special-edition lawn and garden package, no less:
“Grassy yards also can account for half of the typical household’s summertime water use. They mature into carpet-like monocultures barren of birds and butterflies; need doses of herbicide and insecticide to look their best; and require regular grooming using noisy, smoky, fossil-fueled machines.”
And from NewWest.net: “We soak our grass with 270 billion gallons of water, an amount that would irrigate over 80 million acres of organic veggies.”
A new book, A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder, piles on:
“Lawns are ecological disasters. . . they require a staggering amount of care to achieve the ideal look of a flat, monotone tarp. Americans lavish $8 billion a year in products and services on them, and pour 50 million pounds of pesticides and manufactured fertilizers over them.”
But despite all the compelling arguments against lawns, we still love them, write Eric Abrahamson and David Freedman.
A much wiser alternative to a water-guzzling lawn is a yard filled with indigenous grasses, shrubs and wildflowers – commonly referred to as xeriscape.
The problem, say Mess authors, is that we’re obsessed with neat and orderly, and a more natual-looking lawn offends our sense of what’s good and right.
Like a messy desk, a nonconforming front yard in our society is a sign of flawed character, they say.
Neighborhood associations and cities are slapping fines on homeowners who replace their lawns with more natural landscapes, they write.
From everything I’ve seen, Denver Water has very actively promoted xeriscaping.
And I do know a few adventurous souls have started replacing their lawns with more water- smart plants and coverings in my neighborhood.
These are the folks who see their yards as empty canvases, not opportunities to lay carpet.
They are trying to do the right thing for the planet and add a little individuality and artistic touch to their landscapes.
They’re starting to make me feel a bit sheepish about my out-of-date, one-size-fits-all, water-guzzling, polluting ways.
I’m sure they would tell me that in the long run, a waterwise landscape requires much less maintenance than my ’70s-era lawn carpet.
I know they’re right.
It’s just that it’s spring, it’s been a brutally long winter and I can’t wait for a little green to start peeking out from under the snow in my yard.
I crave my fluffy green lawn right now.
We’ll talk xeriscape this fall.
- Memo: mwinte@aol.com
RIGHT AT HOME - Record: 0703100070
- Copyright: Donated to the Denver Public Library by the Rocky Mountain News, under the permission of the City and County of Denver, other rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
