Taking the lawn reform message to the land of vast lawns – and not having enough answers
Prairie dropseed at Chanticleer Garden
Last night I spoke to a lovely group of garden clubbers in DCs outer suburbs, and while it was great fun, I was left with the feeling that Id failed them failed to give them the really specific info they need to convert their large lawns into something less resource-intensive. Id like to be able to rattle off the names of short prairie-type grasses that could be used to replace acres of turf, and explain the exact procedure for converting lawns to an organic maintenance regime.
My own preference would not be to replace lawn with a wildflower meadows, but to switch to a super-sustainable plant like the prairie dropseed you see here, which gets mowed once a year and doesnt ever need fertilizing. It does, however, require weed-free soil to start with, and a lot of manual weeding for the first year or two. And whos going to do that? Also, it turns brown in the winter, so would the neighbors complain?
More answers are needed! Answers from horticultural breeders first of all people like my friend Tom Christopher whos doing trials with drought-tolerant mixes of fine fescues, and clovers, too. Answers from some Eastern version of John Greenlee, the designer of short meadows in California. He knows his plants, knows design, and has lots of great options for his mainly-Western clients options that are a lot less radical than installing tall, wildlife-filled meadows. Because even the most eco-responsible homeowner has to deal with neighbors, local ordinances, and the reality of tick infestations. The tick problem was mentioned last night, and its not going away any time soon, so we have to deal with it.
Next Time March 19 at 11:00 a.m. FREE to the public.
But moving on to the next venue for my talk Reducing, Replacing your Lawn, or Switching to Natural Lawn Care. Thatll be at Behnkes Nurseries in Beltsville, MD on Saturday, March 19 at 11:00. And between now and then Im hoping to come up with some more answers or at least find some experts to dump my questions on so they can worry about them.
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