Why Ultra-Green Lawns Are Losing Popularity
Although there was a time in our culture when sprawling green grass indicated we’d “made it,” those days are gone. What changed?
Watch any idyllic sitcom from the last 60 years, and the featured family is bound to flaunt a highly-manicured, emerald green front lawn, maybe with a picket fence to boot. It’s still not uncommon to drive a suburb’s streets in summer months and see mostly the same often-mowed, uniformly-green lawns adorning the front of each home.
However, in recent years, more and more homeowners are breaking from that mold and opting out of the picturesque lawns of years past. Here’s why.
They’re Expensive and Time-Consuming
The exact amount spent on watering a lawn enough to keep it green will vary by area, size of lawn, and water cost, but most people spend between $75 and $150 per month watering their lawn, which comes out to around $1,000+ each year. While that average isn’t earth-shattering, it’s an expenditure that many homeowners are looking for ways to cut out. Add to that the cost of fertilizers, pesticides, lawn maintenance equipment like mowers, trimmers, and leaf blowers, and the total continues to skyrocket.
Aside from the money spent on lawns, mowing and maintaining them takes hours each month while they’re alive. Some weeks with fast growth require multiple rounds of mowing and make for hours of handling and emptying unwieldy bags of clippings.
They’re Bad for the Environment
Collectively, Americans use 7 billion gallons of water per day watering their lawns. Authorities like the National Weather Service estimate that about half of that water is excess and is wasted to runoff and evaporation. The sheer amount of water used for lawns takes a stunning environmental toll.
Aside from water use, the use of pesticides and gas-powered mowers both contribute to air and water pollution in astonishing amounts.
They’re Useless
Many homeowners in recent years have also woken up to the fact that their lawns don’t serve any real purpose, aside from being a status symbol. The space could be better used for gardening, composting, or growing native plants that draw pollinators. All the time, money and water spent keeping the lawn green doesn’t help local flora or fauna, and often doesn’t even pay off as space for socializing and playing as a family, either.
They’re Antiquated
The indication of status that lawns used to offer dates all the way back to European Aristocracy, from French and English castles to the wealthy elite. Whether to leave an uninhibited view for guards to keep an eye on the property, or to indicate that they didn’t need to use the land near their homes to grow food (because they owned so much extra land), the rich used lawns to keep and indicate their wealth for centuries. The trend followed through to the U.S. landscaping community during the industrial revolution, as families yearned for a bit of “nature” to escape the expansive concrete.
Now, these uses feel redundant and even contradictory. Playing no role in the natural balance and even damaging ecosystems, and being no true indication of higher wealth or extra land ownership, lawns have become extraneous and outdated.
Better Alternatives
So, what’s the best use of space? Are we all to let our grass die and slosh around a mucky yard from here on out?
Not exactly. Many homeowners, especially those who get more sun in the front yard than back, are now using space in the front and side lawn for vegetable garden beds or to plant pollinator gardens and bushes. For those who aren’t interested in gardening, planting or allowing native brush to grow is another sustainable alternative. Aside from those, many people are opting for more rocky landscaping or pavers for a low-maintenance and durable yard.
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