What's a good alternative to the lawn?

A friend in Florida abandoned her water hungry lawn for native plantings with stones in between.

I’ve also heard of wildflower meadow plantings but not seen one in actuality.

Lots of lawn alternatives where I live (in the Bay Area). Native plants, succulents, wildflower, wood chips, stone, artificial turf…all of the above. Still, nothing beats laying down on grass. We actually hang out on our itty front lawn quite a bit because we have a big tree out front. (Our backyard is suffering from tree envy.)

We get a lot of funny looks from passerbys. I think using our front lawn this way makes some people kind of uncomfortable. Like there’s not enough space between public activity (walking on the sidewalk) and semi-private activity (laying down on the grass). I wonder what kind of spatial buffer is needed? Maybe a fence?

Any native plants or wildflowers look good. Or Alpine plants if you’re in the higher elevations. My favorite vacation place has a green roof of alpine plants. They’re low growing and beautiful. I can look for a pic if you’d like.

Food

@syz Wow, I love those! A thousand GA’S.

I’ve always thought we should do plantings and gardens in the Dutch fashion, ever since I visited the country for the first time in 1998. They have perfectly lovely pocket-sized gardens of flowers, exotic bushes and small trees, with patches of lawn that are so small they could be cut with scissors in an hour or so, if one were so inclined. I tried to google some representative photos, but it’s difficult. Some of the photos on this page are ‘somewhat representative’, but it’s hard to do justice to the wonderful inventiveness of many Dutch homeowners, and the wide array of great appearances – no two alike – in Dutch suburbs.

These are by no means all “low maintenance” yards, however. One advantage of a big lawn is that it doesn’t have to take a lot of effort to be “presentable”, although “showpiece” lawns, even when it’s just an expanse of grass, take a lot of work.

I like my lawn. I never water, the roots are deep enough that rain takes care of it, and I don’t mow more than twice a month with a fairly quiet battery-powered mower. I play with the dogs on my lawn, kids play on my lawn, and I find the green reflection of light very soothing.
I have raised beds and containers for growing herbs and veg and flowers. My lot is very small (50’ X 100’) but there’s enough room for all sorts of stuff.

The trend to dislike suburbia (including lawn hate) seems very generalized and unfocused to me. My neighbors don’t seem to obsess about their lawns, an undue amount of time is not spent maintaining landscaping, and sprinklers are a rare sight around here, except for the watering of gardens.

I see no need for an alternative unless I need to grow more food due to unforeseen circumstances.

New York State has funded a project to study genetically modified switch grass for fuel in wood burning stoves. The data shows one acre of lawn will produce enough biomass (equivalent to approx. 800 gallons of heating oil) yearly to heat a home for the entire heating season – including the energy required to harvest, store and compress it.
But most people prefer to pay for natural gas, electricity, or oil rather than mess with a wood burning stove. Maybe there will be interest when heating oil gets over $5 per gallon, (now at $3.29)

I have a 2 square meter patch that I grow for fun.

Late TV actors signing autographs, what a Bonanza that would be.

@canidmajor: “I like my lawn. I never water, the roots are deep enough that rain takes care of it, and I don’t mow more than twice a month with a fairly quiet battery-powered mower. I play with the dogs on my lawn, kids play on my lawn, and I find the green reflection of light very soothing.”

That’s great. I have a postage-stamp lawn, and I also use every square foot of it. But you’ll note that I am not discussing this at all. I’m not sure where you’re from, but here in eastern MA suburbs, where I have lived for most of my life, the front lawn is not used. In fact, if there are kids who live in these houses, they aren’t allowed to use it.

@canidmajor: “The trend to dislike suburbia (including lawn hate) seems very generalized and unfocused to me.”

This isn’t Fox news. Address what has been said. I am not a card-carrying anti-suburban warrior. In fact, I intentionally moved from the “country” to the suburbs 5 years ago.

@canidmajor: “My neighbors don’t seem to obsess about their lawns…”

You’re lucky. Very lucky. You clearly do not live in MA. Where is this paradise you speak of?

Careful with the Xeriscaping. While a wonderful idea considering how much water is used to maintain a good looking lawn, you sometimes run afoul of city codes and ordinances and in many cases homeowner rules and regs.

@hominid “If there are kids who live in these houses, they aren’t allowed to use it.”

That’s insane.

Here’s the green roof.
http://www.golden-arrow.com/green-page/we-are-eco-friendly/

Not permitted here, nor is merely breathing, but we had a gravel front yard with shrubbery up against the front of the house. Only way to go.

Several years ago I saw an episode of Ed Begley’s show where he installed some remarkably realistic looking “grass” made from recycled plastic and the artificial “dirt” is made from recycled tires (all safe for humans and pets).

It looked a lot better than the typical AstroTurf and the company specializes in techniques to make it the most realistic looking and FEELING as possible.

As they were lounging around and lying down on it, both his wife and daughter commented upon how comfy it was and how natural it felt. And it looked really good also. You’d be hard pressed to tell it apart from real grass.

I’ll put in the link for the company if you’d like to meander through their site. There are some impressive looking photos there and tons of great info; plus, it’s warranted to be long lasting.

www.aglgrass.com

@hominid: I’m a few miles south of you, and my second paragraph was not a censure of your details, simply a general observation that I probably wouldn’t have made had this been in the General Section.

And, just for comparison, where I am now is the third suburb in which I’ve owned a house. The other two were on the west coast and in the arid heartland (where, to be fair, I watered once a week). Both of those neighborhoods were very like this one, with dogs and kids and a lack of lawn obsessions. I guess I just choose well.

We play on our grass in Illinois. We also let our dogs play and poop on it. The only lawn obsession I’ve seen lately is getting the grass short enough for the kids to play ball. My family did live in an uppity town in Illinois during my late teens and my mother always bitched about our neighbor’s obsession with his yard. My mother wanted to secretly spread a bunch of dandelion seeds in his yard, but she never did.

We had lawns when I lived in Las Vegas in the 70s and 80s, but now homeowners in Las Vegas are replacing their lawns with rock and shrubs. In an effort to reduce water usage, in 1999 Las Vegas began to offer $1.50 per square foot of lawn removed from residential and commercial properties. The Water Smart Landscapes program estimates that every square foot of grass replaced with water-smart trees, shrubs and flowers saves an average of 55 gallons of water per year, also saving money on monthly water bills. In the first eight years of the measure, about six square miles of grass have been eliminated, saving 18 billion gallons of water source

I remember running around in the sprinklers in our yard on a hot day. We had a lot of hot days in Vegas. This was when water was abundant and overflowing the dam. This is the water level at Hoover Dam in 1983. Here is the 2013 level.

I’ve seen recent pictures of my old house in Vegas. The grass is gone from the front and back yards. The pomegranate tree that was in our backyard is now gone (I was a picky eater but I loved pomegranates. It was one of the few healthy things I ate as a child). The trees I climbed on are also gone. Now all that’s there are rocks, sand and cacti. I have so many fond memories of playing in that yard, but I sure am thankful I don’t live there now. I’d hate to have a yard I couldn’t play on.

“A lawn is a labor of love.”

Grass under one’s bare feet:

Is there anything better?

Why not plant a privacy border of exotic grasses ( Zebra, Myscanthus, Pampas, Purple fountain grass etc.) are relatively drought resistant and has a striking appearance.
You could also border your yard with large urns filled with tall grasses instead of ground planting. Bamboos as a privacy scree are great to. Then, flagstone off your yard and landscape with more potted plants, maybe a fountain of some sort and enjoy a private, low maintenance front yard.

Well yes.

There is a simple pleasure that trumps the grass.

Pumping one’s own fossil fuel into their car in bare feet as the engine still purrs.