Houzz Call: Are You Letting Go of Your Lawn?
We can’t help how much we love our lawns. As children we played on a lush green carpet in the front yard; in college we lounged on the campus glade; we’ve spent countless Saturdays watching Little League baseball and youth soccer games. Lawns are woven into the cultural fabric of Americans — even George Washington had a lawn.
But the American lawn’s popularity might be waning. Record droughts are facing the West; homeowners want to reduce garden maintenance and cost while contributing to a healthy ecosystem; and a freshly cut lawn just isn’t working anymore for many. According to a Houzz survey, one in four homeowners in the West will be starting a yard from scratch this year. Is it time to ditch the green for good?
Here at Houzz we’ve shared ideas on how to landscape without a lawn. Now it’s your turn. Do you plan to lose the lawn?
Instead of a lush green lawn, this outdoor space features gravel, native plantings and a raised water feature. A typical suburban lawn requires 10,000 gallons of water beyond natural rainfall per year, according to the Enivronmental Protection Agency. In Los Angeles, where this backyard is located, the Department of Water and Power offers $3 per square foot of green grass ripped out and replaced with drought-tolerant plantings.
Birds, bugs, bees and other beneficial wildlife prefer diversity in the landscape. Planting native species will help restore the landscape to its original state, and will welcome essential pollinators and members of the food chain back into the garden. A recent Houzz landscaping survey showed that 92 percent of homeowners who plan to plant this year will plant natives.
This former front lawn is now a tapestry of low-maintenance, low-water Echeveria and fescue. In American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn, author Ted Steinberg writes that the average homeowner will spend 150 hours per year maintaining a lawn. Would you rather be doing something else?
Californians and others living in dry places: Are you planning to lose your lawn this year? What are you planning to put in its place? Please add your photos in the Comments below.
More: How to Replace Your Lawn With a Garden
