[img]238|left|||no_popup[/img]
Lawns are an essential ingredient of the American dream.
They are like the two-car garage and a big screen TV. No American home is complete without one.
Without a tapestry of endless lawns carpeting every tract and subdivision, American neighborhoods would be as barren and inhospitable as the lunar landscape.
[img]311|left|||no_popup[/img] We didn't always have a love affair with our lawns. In fact it wasn't until the Industrial Revolution that lawns became practical for most Americans.
Lawns were seen as a luxury expense for only the wealthy who could afford grounds keepers to maintain the fine-bladed plants using scythes. Not everyone wanted cattle or sheep grazing in the front yard to keep the green stuff at a manageable height, as did Woodrow Wilson while occupying the White House.
Green, weed-free lawns that are so common today didn't exist in America until the late 18th century. The front yard of a typical American home was unceremoniously festooned with packed dirt or maybe a rudimentary garden of wild flowers, herbs and a few vegetables.
[img]312|left|||no_popup[/img] In England, sweeping lawns were a fixture of every country estate. They were, and remain, an ensconced icon of wealth and refinement. Americans with the means to travel overseas returned with idyllic images. They were determined to re-create a little bit of English gentility at home.
Try as they might, it wasn't as easy to reproduce a beautiful English lawn. They couldn't just run down to their local hardware store and pick up a bag of grass seed. To make matters worse, grasses native to North America were unruly, and they proved unsuitable for a tidy, well-controlled lawn.
Unbowed and undeterred, Yankee ingenuity finally conquered the science of the perfect lawn. Seemingly overnight, an American love affair was born.
The growing spectre of global warming, combined with uncertain petroleum supplies and chronic water shortages, especially in Southern California, has started many home gardeners rethinking this cherished American institution.
[img]313|left|||no_popup[/img] Lawns are perfect for picnics and baseball fields; but their environmental cost and continued utility in home landscaping are now in sharp focus.
A typical turf grass uses 5,600 gallons of water per month per 1000 square feet of lawn, which is only 20 feet by 50 feet. That’s 20 thousand-plus gallons,in the summer alone. According to the Sonoma County Water Agency, the average three-person family in a single-family home uses approximately 60 to 80,000 gallons per year for its lawn. Those water-use figures are for Northern California, not the semi-arid condition that prevails in our quadrant of the state.
Most lawn fertilizers, not to mention weed killers, are petroleum based. Unless you use a push mower, cutting and trimming your lawn takes additional energy. As we get deeper into the 21st century, most experts believe that the price of oil and natural gas – both essential to modern lawn care – will continue to escalate.
Ornamental grasses and sedges are the ideal alternative.
[img]314|left|||no_popup[/img] At the turn-of-the-century, home gardeners had, perhaps, a dozen perennial grasses available to plant. Today’s gardeners have hundreds to suit their individual design and environmental needs.
Ornamental grasses are a stunningly versatile group, offering myriad possibilities in the garden, limited only by the imagination of the designer. The vast modern palette includes species and cultivated varieties suited for use as specimens, accents, groundcovers, masses, hedges, container subjects and a host of other purposes.
From spring green to winter gold, the drama of grasses is nonstop. There are the striking yellow-and-green ostrich plumes of Zebra Grass; the fine-textured leaves of Blue Oat Grass. Flame Grass's dazzling red-orange leaves, Fountain Grass's coppery brushes, the rich brown nuggets of Northern Sea Oats, the feathery purple haze of Switch Grass.
[img]315|left|||no_popup[/img] Ornamental grasses can be used on their own, as a substitute for your turf lawn or as backdrops for colorful garden flowers. Native grasses are admired for their color, form, movement and texture. They also aid in erosion control, soil stabilization and water retention, making them great conservation tools for gardeners, especially during times of drought.
Most ornamental grasses require very low maintenance and don’t need a lot of fertilizer. In fact, too much nitrogen will actually produce more growth than is good for the plant, causing it to put out so much soft greenery that it flops over. Just work in some compost when you plant, and mulch every fall to keep it healthy.
As we enter not just a new century but a new millennium, we are doing more than expanding the plant palette. We are redefining the garden. Landscape gardening, that unique confluence of art and science, is searching for a model that will provide an opportunity for creative expression and a reverent link to the larger ecology.
Our nursery features a broad selection of environmentally friendly and water-conserving grasses. Drop by, and we’ll help you find the specimens that fit your new American dream.
To learn more about any of the plants described in this article, visit our website at www.thejungle.biz or email me at carlos@thejungle.biz.
Carlos Saez is the owner of The Jungle Nursery, a leading designer garden center specializing in unique sculptural plants, tropicals, succulents, bamboo and a wide selection of indoor foliage including orchids. The Jungle, 1900 Sawtelle Blvd., West Los Angeles. 310. 235.2875.
Mr. Saez’ gardening column appears on Wednesdays.
