This is what a holiday card from a lawn reform activist looks like – in this case from Tom Engelman of the Grassroots Program in California.  Attached was this extra message: that his patch of Buffalograss in Santa Monica had received no watering during December-January at all, and only every two weeks or so the rest of the year.

So I wrote to ask about this organic colorant – like what's up with that?  And Tom wrote back:

Personally, I'm good with the brief (60-90 day) seasonal changes to my Buffalograss (around the rocks). However, I used the colorant as a teaching tool because 95% of folks in the West want year round green. So I want to show how to have your cake while turning off the water/mower for a few months. The picture shows a test of two organic colorants — one lighter and one darker.  One was from this company.  I'm still hunting down the ingredients for the other colorant but remember it being certified 'organic' by a California nursery chain.

NOW here's my question:  If it's true that "95% of the folks in the West want year-round green," somebody needs to tell them they're in the ARID WEST, for crissakes.  Time to change some norms. 
 

The Lawn Reform gang asked for your comments and got lots of ‘em – thanks!  Here’s the greatly amended version now on our website.  Comments are enabled there.

Here’s a short summary of the lawn care we recommend – as a guide for homeowners and to clarify for writers and journalists the practices we look for in lawn-care articles linked to on this website.  See our Resources page for lots more about all these topics, including this page about better types of grasses.  Comments are welcome.

Fertilizers

• We recommend against using synthetic fertilizers because they kill beneficial microorganisms in the soil.  And all fast-acting fertilizers are far more likely to run off and pollute our waterways than slow-release fertilizers that stay in the soil and are gradually released to the plants.  Of course we agree with the standard recommendation that instructions be followed and that soil be tested to determine if fertilization is needed.

•  Turfgrasses can receive all the fertilizer they need from a combination of: using a mulching mower to leave grass clippings on the lawn, adding clover, and applying a layer of compost.  Also, any of those can be used in combination with a slow-acting, organic fertilizer product, like alfalfa meal. 

• A slow-acting, organic fertilizer product can be applied once a year to lawns. In most climates and for most turf grass species, fall is the best season, but warm season species (zoysia, Bermuda, St. Augustine, centipede grass and others) should be fertilized in mid to late spring/early summer.  A second feeding? Only if there’s a particular need; e.g., to restore a neglected lawn. 

Pesticides

• We recommend more drought-tolerant species of turfgrass, where possible.  They include Buffalograss, mixes of fine fescues, Bahia grass in parts of Florida, sedges in wooded areas, and so on – whatever is best for your region.  (More info.) We think that if your climate does not provide enough rain to sustain a lawn, it’s best to find something else to plant.  But if you do irrigate, use an efficient system.  Install a smart controller that automatically adjusts irrigation schedules based on environmental factors and replace traditional spray heads with matched precipitation, low application rate heads.  Too much water is wasted with "set-it & forget it" systems that water whether it’s needed or not.
• We disagree with the old, water-wasting advice to give lawns an inch of water every week.  Rather, lawns should be allowed to go dormant in the summer and in the winter.  Healthy turfgrass grown naturally is pretty, though in a different way than the drug-addicted green perfection we’re told to emulate.

Mowing, Blowing and Discarding 

• We agree that lawns be mowed at the highest recommended height for the dominate species of grass. In most cases it will be at least 3 or 4 inches.”
• Grass clippings are best left on the lawn to provide nitrogen, not sent to the dump.

Less Lawn

Here’s where we put in a plug for reducing or eliminating turfgrasses when they’re not needed for their toughness.  "Lawns" could be composed of more sustainable  groundcovers, or converted to something totally different - ornamental grasses, flowering perennials, shrubs, trees, pervious patios, edibles, even a meadow.  

We welcome your comments.  And again, see our Resources page for lots more about all these topics.  

Here’s an update after a whirlwind week of launching the Lawn Reform Coalition with my 8 co-conspirators, complete with much blogging, status-updating, press-release-pushing and lobbying of friends.  It’s filling a small void in our website – what the heck we recommend by way of taking care of lawns as we know them.  Sure, books can be written about lawn care, but everyone’s busy so let’s just cut to the chase in a few bullet points.  Lots more resources on all these subjects are listed here. 

Thanks to everyone for the links and miscellaneous suggestions you’ve sent us about the campaign and the website, and keep ‘em coming.  On the subject of lawn care, we’re looking for links to articles and websites that recommend the following basic practices because too much information, especially if it contradicts itself, isn’t much help to the reader.

Weigh In

So what do you think of these?  What would you add, delete, amend, or throw a shoe at?  Let us know in a comment or directly to me.

Fertilizers

• We recommend against using synthetic fertilizers because they kill the soil and are far more likely to run off and pollute our waterways.
• Turfgrasses can receive all the fertilizer they need from a combination of: leaving grass clippings on the lawn, adding clover, and applying a layer of compost.  Also, any of those can be used in combination with a slow-acting, organic fertilizer product, applied in the fall only. 
• Spring feeding?  Only if it’s organic and if there’s a particular need; e.g., to restore a neglected lawn.  Once it’s healthy, spring feeding shouldn’t be needed. 

Pesticides

• We recommend against using insecticides and fungicides as a group, especially the synthetic ones, because of multiple environmental problems with their use.  We are also concerned about their toxicity for humans and pets, not only via direct exposure but as they infiltrate into our drinking water.

Weeds

• The best way to keep weeds down in a lawn is to have a thick, healthy lawn by overseeding in the fall, and by fertilizing as outlined above.
• For preventing broadleaf weeds we like corn gluten applied in late winter when the forsythias bloom.  In the recommended dose, it also provides significant nitrogen.
• We recommend against synthetic weedkillers for the lawn, especially the ones in the common weed-and-feed products.
• And two plants considered weeds for decades are making a comeback – and for good reason.  Clover is a nitrogen-fixing natural fertilizer and great for the pollinators.  Dandelions are lovely in bloom and edible, too.

Water

• We disagree with the old, water-wasting advice to give lawns an inch of water every week.  Rather, lawns should be allowed to go dormant in the summer and in the winter.  Healthy turfgrass grown naturally is pretty, though in a different way than the drug-addicted green perfection we’re told to emulate.
• We recommend more drought-tolerant species of turfgrass, where possible.  They include Buffalograss, mixes of fine fescues, Bahia grass in parts of Florida, sedges in wooded areas, and so on – whatever is best for your region.
• And if you irrigate, use an efficient system.  Install a smart controller that automatically adjusts irrigation schedules based on environmental factors and replace traditional spray heads with matched precipitation, low infiltration heads such as MP Rotators.

Mowing, Blowing and Discarding

• We agree with the universal recommendation that lawns be mowed high, to at least 3". 
• Gas-powered mowers and blowers are the worst offenders in the categories of air pollution, noise pollution and, obviously, the use of a fossil fuel.  Electric mowers are far preferable, and push mowers are everyone’s ideal.
• Grass clippings are best left on the lawn to provide nitrogen, not sent to the dump.

Less Lawn

• Here’s where we put in a plug for reducing or eliminating turfgrasses when they’re not needed for their toughness.  "Lawns" could be composed of more sustainable  groundcovers, or converted to something totally different - ornamental grasses, flowering perennials, shrubs, small trees, pervious patios, edibles, even a small meadow.  

Photo by Digimist.

Nine of us garden designer/writer/rabble-rowser types have been conspiring for a while now to come up with a way to bring attention to the problems with the American Lawn as we know it, but even more so on all the solutions we have to choose from – better lawn types, organic, low-water lawn care, and alternatives to lawn altogether.  Because you know where the public is always sent for gardening help, right?  Those Extension Service websites.  Well, most of them are still telling us to "green up" the lawn in the spring, water a inch every week throughout the summer, and kill that awful clover.  Yep, the need for information about better choices is clear.

So we pitched in a hundred bucks each, hired a designer, and put together what we hope will be an inspiring website.  A little more scheming resulted in a Facebook page, a Flickr group, and printable materials for other lawn reformersr to use locally. 

And today’s our big coming out party!!  So mosey on over to LawnReform.org and look around.  It’s just a start, and puh-leeze send me your suggestions for books, articles online, success stories about overturning laws and rules that mandate perfect, green lawn, etc.  And spread our link – especially to the Resources page – because right now people looking for help online are finding pretty much nothing. Seriously, I Googled "lawn replacement" and found a website that was nothing but stolen content, including my own.  (We reported that sucker to their server and got the site taken down stat.)  But soon, people looking for help with find it, and they just  might make some changes.

WIN THE AMERICAN MEADOW LAWN BOOK
John Greenlee is a pioneer in the use of sustainable plants as lawn alternatives, many of them regionally native, and he’s teamed up with the fabulous photographer Saxon Holt and Timber Press to create what we can safely assume is a gorgeous and informative book about meadows.  To be eligible to win a copy, write a blog post or blog comment on this subject: "I used to have a lawn but now I have____________."  Coalition member Susan Morrison is in charge and has all the details on her blog. THIS JUST IN:  Greenlee and Timber have a trailer for the book on YouTube.

ON PARTERSHIPS
I love ‘em (obviously) and the Lawn Reform bunch is awesome.  And about websites, you know I love them because I have so damn many and I have enough now, thank you.

If you’ve followed the links on my WowOWow.com article - "Coming soon: The Death of the Great American Lawn" – welcome and look around.  For more articles about lawn, check out the categories "Lawn" and "Lawn Substitutes" over in the right.

Then on my website there’s a whole section called Lawn Reduction and Lawn Substitutes, with examples from across the U.S.

Next up from me on WowOWow I’ll be blogging about solutions – better lawn species, better ways to care for lawn, and alternatives to lawn altogether – and where to find them.  And where to find them will be a new website that’’s launching next month.  It’s the combined effort of Paul Tukey, Ginny Stibolt, Susan Morrison, Tom Christopher, Evelyn Hadden, Billy Goodnick, Shirley Bovshow, a movie producer/environmental activist named Tom Engelman, and yours truly.  

Photo and plant credits, clockwise from upper left: Prairie Dropseed at the Scott Arboretum by Susan Harris; Sedum acre and Dutch white clover by Susan Harris; UC Verde Buffalo grass by Tom Hawkins; and Carex pansa by Owen Dell.

by Guest Blogger Tom Hawkins.  Tom’s a San Clemente, CA horticulturist and the owner of Florasource Ltd., a supplier of young plants for nurseries and gardens.

The recently implemented “Cash for Grass” program by the City of Los Angeles (D.W.P.) is an earnest attempt at addressing the limitations of our state water supply and the tremendous waste of water in our urban landscapes. But is this based upon sound science and is it a good investment
in the long term?

Past city incentives have included synthetic turf rebates, an interesting choice considering published research which points to both environmental and personal health problems that can come with this product. The current program doles out cash when turfgrass is removed and replaced with “something besides turf”. Per the program guidelines, acceptable turf substitutes may include various drought tolerant groundcovers or native plants; emphasis is placed on plants that require a minimum of 15” of water per square foot per year.

Is turfgrass the problem, however, or is it the type of turfgrass we find in our California landscapes? With very few exceptions, California’s residential and commercial lawns are all “exotics”, coming from outside of North America. These turfs include Tall Fescue (Europe), Blue Grass (Europe), Bermuda Grass (Africa), Zoysia (Philippines), Seashore Paspalum (tropical Americas), and St. Augustine (West Indies, West Africa). All of these grasses come from areas
with much higher rainfall than California. Of these, tall fescue is our most common landscape turfgrass state-wide, and this grass type is also one of the most water-requiring, using upwards of 40” to 50” of water per square foot per year.

Do we need to give up our lawns? Should we give up our lawns? And is this rebate truly directed at replacing turf with something smarter and for the long run? Temperatures in cities around the world are on the rise due to the urban heat island effect. Numerous studies have shown turf grass to provide the greatest evaporative cooling effect of any planted landscape. Turf also reduces water runoff, increases ground infiltration, and helps to purify water before ground water recharge.

What about using a much more water-friendly turf, such as a native Carex or buffalograss? Years of research at UC Davis and Riverside resulted in a buffalograss selection called ‘UC Verde’; this grass has been shown to get by on just 12” of water per year, makes a beautiful groomed turf at 2-
3” tall, or it may be grown as a short meadow at 6” in height. The water savings is 75% over tall fescue lawns…that’s huge.

Finally, what of the economics of a Cash for Grass program? According to the L.A. Times, Southern California water managers were impressed by the Cash for Grass program in Las Vegas, where water officials report more than 125 million square feet of turfgrass has been removed at a rebate cost of $1.50 per square foot, saving 7 billion gallons of water per year. This is effectively spending $187 million dollars to offset 7 billion gallons of water use, but with the end result of giving up lawns entirely.

The estimated cost of switching out an existing lawn for a more environmentally correct lawn variety comes to less than $ 0.75 per square foot, all the while allowing for the long term benefits of turfgrass and without adversely affecting our local climate. This may make sense (and cents) at almost anytime, but especially so when expenditures and climate change are daily concerns.

Photos:  Top, UC Verde Buffalograss, uncut. Bottom: UC Verde plugs.