Off to the Races: Ready, Set, Go

The list of environmental benefits of turfgrass is relatively short:
- erosion control
- filtering stormwater runoff
- cooling effect

According to the National Turfgrass Initiative, turfgrass covers 50, 000, 000 acres in the U. S (2002). The volume of water used to irrigate is astronomical.

I remember designing a landscape in a high-end development that required a minimum square footage of turfgrass--at the expense of eliminating trees to achieve that requirement! From an environmental perspective, what were they thinking? Of course no one on the homeowners association planning committee had horticultural, or environmental expertise. Their agenda was aesthetic--agreed. Expansive, lush green lawns can be beautiful. And labor intensive, expensive fertilizer-chemical-water hoarders.

God forbid you should let nature take its course. Native grasses and forbs proliferate, survive drought, and are low to no maintenance but when they attempt to make your life easier, the conventional gardener attacks the 'weeds' with all manner of chemicals. My dentist lives in a community that fines their residents for having weeds in their lawn. What is a weed other than a plant growing someplace we don't want it to grow? Humph--plant bias.

Pressured by drought conditions and water shortages, some cities are now limiting the amount of turfgrass. Hoorah!

An effective approach to reducing water consumption in the landscape is Xeriscaping. Xeriscaping is a practical approach to creating attractive landscapes that minimize lawns and water-thirsty plants, and combines plants with similar watering requirements.

Once we see the landscape with new eyes, perhaps we can park our riding mowers and save them for the 4th of July riding mower races.