The Old Dog Investigates: Why Do We Even Have Lawns? Is There a Better Way?

 The moment that I took a picture of this beautiful "lawn" in front of a home in my neighborhood it got me thinking about the Western World’s obsession with lawns. Here was patch of what used to be a time consuming, money-sucking patch of grass. It had been turned into a delightful field of wild flowers, a spectacular oasis of color and life! 

 

This wild flower "lawn" has looked great all summer. It needs no watering and lots of insects hovers about! We need the bees and other pollinators! Photo: @kus-knee

 

 Way back in the day when my wife and I lived in suburban Toronto we got caught up in the obsession of the perfectly manicured front lawn. We fertilized it, aerated it, mowed it, watered it, weeded it, trimmed it and just generally fussed over it. Never to our satisfaction I must add. It never did look perfect! It had become a sort of status symbol and anyone in the neighborhood who did not do their best to strive for that perfect lawn was looked down upon!  

 Was that really the right way to live? Had we become slaves? Don’t get me wrong. I love the look of a nicely manicured lawn but surely there must be a better idea!  

Where Did The Obsession of Having A Perfect Lawn Come From? 

  The word lawn is defined as: “ground (as around a house or in a garden or park) that is covered with grass and is kept mowed”. It originally comes from the Middle English word “Laude” which meant an open space between woods. It is believed that such lawns were cultivated around French and English castles starting in about the 16th century. In those days, most likely chamomile and thyme were used instead of the turf grass that we use today. Both are still great alternatives and require less maintenance.   

  By the late 17th century lawns with the grass cut close to the ground started coming into vogue among the very wealthy and the practice soon began to spread to the elite class in general! Even back then there was the need to “keep up with the Joneses”!  

 The very famous Versailles gardens in France where “green carpet” (tapis vert) was featured in André Le Nôtre’s landscape design. Photo credit: fathernaturelandscapes.com  

How Did The Practice of Having a Lawn Spread to Where it is Today?  

 A number of factors came together to spread this form of “insanity”!     

1.) With the dawn of the Industrial Revolution the first lawn mower was produced. Now cutting the grass was no longer a back breaking and expensive job done by hired hands with scythes but it could be handled by individual home owners! ( I do admit that many these days use a lawn cutting service )   

2.) A man named Frederick Law Olmstead, who is widely known as “the father of American landscape design” and famous for designing Central Park in New York was also designing suburbs where every home would have its own little patch of lawn. From that point until now it has become a main feature of almost any home built in the past 100 years!    

 The typical Lawn of a Suburban Home. What feelings does this image elicit in you compared to the one of the wild flowers at the top of the page. Photo Credit: Dalelawnturf.com    

Shocking Facts About Lawns  

•  Approximartely 80% of homes in the United States have lawns.  
•  In the U.S.alone it is an over 40 billion dollar industry!  
•  Based on water usage the lawn is the largest “crop” by far in the U.S.  Greater than corn and wheat!
• 1/3 of all public water is used to water lawns! How disgusting is that!  
• Fertilizers and pesticides used to make lawns beautiful run off into gutters, streams and water sources. This harms both people and animals.  
• Around 3 billion man-hours are used every year in the U.S mowing lawns. That’s the equivalent of 1.5 million people working full time just to cut people's grass! That’s just craziness!  
• Lawns in the U.S cover an area roughly the size of New York State!    

What Alternatives Are There?  

 I remember, 25 years ago, when a family on our street decided to take out their lawn and put in wild flowers the whole area was up in arms. “What are those weirdos doing?” they all said. Nowadays people, at least in some areas, seem more open to new ideas when it comes to the suburban yard.  

Alternative One 

  There are many that suggest replacing at least some of the lawn with food producing gardens. In her book “Food Not Lawns” (2006) Heather C. Flores makes the claim that the average yard could produce several hundred pounds of fruit and vegetables a year! How cool is that! Keep in mind though that some jurisdictions will not allow food to be grown in a suburban residential property! How do you feel about that?

Alternative Two  

 David Quammen the American science, nature, and travel writer states that while Communism has fallen “lawnism” continues. He would prefer to see suburbia looking like it did hundreds of year ago. Covered in moss, or scrub, or even just weeds.    

 David Benner, a horticulturalist promotes the idea of moss as an alternative to grass. He killed all of the grass on his property and in its’ place has over 25 different moss species growing there. His son Al is following in his foot-steps.

Alternative Three  

 What about a yard made up of the beautiful wild flowers that you see in my opening picture? Or how about a combination of all three that I’ve listed? What suggestions do you have?

What Does The Future Hold?  

 So what do you think? Is it time to give up this tradition that has already lasted hundreds of years? Will this period of time go down in history as absurd? Could you get used to a new approach, a different look? Do you think that lawns are a waste of time, money and precious natural resources? Please let me know what you think. You're comments are precious to me!  

   

Till next time,

@kus-knee (The Old Dog)