Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Lose The Lawn

Turf Wars – washingtonpost.com
For half a century or more, we have used synthetic chemicals to feed and medicate that universal icon of the American home, the lawn.

But in nurturing our own environments, many believe we damaged the broader world by relying on fertilizers and pesticides.

“Many believe…”? What an odd way to put it. It’s a well established fact that grass lawns and the chemicals used to maintain them have damaged the environment.

“Many believe…”? You’ve got to wonder whose feelings are being protected with a statement like that.

Grass lawns damage the environment in several ways. The obvious one that most people first think of is that chemicals applied to lawns can get into the ground water or run off into streams and rivers where the herbicides and fertilizers wreak havoc with the natural flora.

The less obvious way that lawns wreck the environment is in how they destroy natural habitats. Most animals need a lot more plant diversity than is found in a turf grass lawn. When there’s nothing for the native insects to eat or lay their eggs on, there’s nothing for the native insect-eating birds to consume, and there’s nothing for the larger predators who eat those birds. Our entire environment suffers.

This Washington Post article doesn’t even mention that the ideal approach to landscaping is to limit oneself to a very small turf grass lawn — if any lawn at all! — and, instead, landscape with native plants. Native plant landscaping requires considerably less care than a lawn — no mowing, no fertilizing, and generally no watering — and, in my opinion, it’s a LOT more attractive. Best of all, a yard planted with native flowers, grasses, and shrubs is going to have many more birds and butterflies than a grass lawn. What’s not to like?

It’s easy to find information about landscaping with native plants, but if you live in Virginia and you need a place to start, check out the Virginia Native Plant Society.