I hate lawns. Let me clarify that. Lawns on  large estate, golf courses, tennis courts or the rolling   terrain of a horse farm can be really beautiful. In fact I even read up on the history of lawns to discover how this madness took over america.

But little postage size squares of sod called front yards really creep me out. And while they might be cheap to put in you have to water and fertilize them and mow them. And we know that Americans just love their loud large lawn mowers. I live in a natural rain forest. Zone 8. and I am surrounded by neighbors who feel compelled to put in sod yards. Oh they never walk on them. Never play badminton or croquet, they don’t even let their children in the front yard to play so why do they adhere to this noxious landscaping concept?

I can understand if you have inherited a yard of grass, it might take years to slowly convert the grass to areas of low maintenance high ecology value ground covers but I am watching neighbors TEAR OUT shrubs and replace it with sod. In fact the insane pig to the west wouldn’t want camellias because the flowers are messy when they fall off.  and another neighbor installed an irrigation system for the two months a year that lawns need watering up here.

This afternoon I was assaulted for over an hour... first by my neighbors' vacuum cleaner cleaning their cars ( they take more care with their cars than home and yard) and then  a mower service mowing a yard belonging to people I have never seen outside since moving in a year ago. And then of course the fat guy in the headphones had to use a leaf blower to get the clippings off the sidewalk and then... Horror of all horrors... He BAGS UP THE GRASS clippings to be hauled away. Haven’t they heard of mulching lawn mowers that add the clippings to the grass to nourish it? Am I the only neighbor within 6 houses either way who has a compost bin and mulches.

As the landscape architect and queen on my plot of land I have instructed the spousal unit to pull out any grass that invades our yard. My garden paths are pine needles and pea gravel. The beds are mulched with leaves or bark and the prominent ground covers are what grow native to the area:  wood anemones, wood sorrel, violets, kinnikinnik. Shady areas have moss and ferns and vancouveria and the sunnier areas have wildflowers and shrubs.  And in fall when the deciduous tree leaves fall they never get carted away but moved to the planting beds to protect the plants and bulbs during winter and to decay into enriching compost for what’s planted already. the larch needles get spread over the wilder paths along the east side of the house where we keep our firewood and kindling stacked to dry.  when we prune a tree the limbs go to kindling and the foliage into compost. even the fireplace ashes serve my yard.

Ok I confess that I also recycle, use linens and towels instead of paper products, buy VOC Free paint, banned aerosols decades ago and let the air dry my hair. My next car will be a hybrid and I take the bus when I want to go downtown for the day. These are simple things to save the earth, they also save me money and enhance this small corner of the universe in which I dwell. Try it, you might like it.