When I was ten years old, I received a subscription to a National Geographic kids’ magazine called The World. This coincided with an education from my favorite school teacher about what we all called “the environment.” I remember there was a focus at that time on saving the rainforest. Since that was my introduction to eco consciousness, I too became fascinated with these types of bioregions and many of the charismatic animals that lived in them. I believe it led me to study and work with chimps.
I don’t know if this is accurate, but I’ve wondered if the boom time of the 1980s took people’s minds off the environmental movement that had recently come to the forefront. With hindsight, I see now that there have been multiple movements, and maybe they do tend to reflect the economic situation of their time.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized the necessity of using that same focus toward my own native environment, which I admit I didn’t see as so “threatened” when I was young.
One of my continuing goals as a master naturalist and a nursery employee is to change people’s hearts and minds about turf grass. It seems to have become quite the status symbol. I’ve seen firsthand how neighbors try to outdo each other by having the best lawn on the block. It’s a misguided source of pride.
However, I have also witnessed peoples’ weariness when it comes to their lawns. They’re frustrated by their continuing efforts to plant grass under their oak trees, where it always thins out, and so they believe by applying an abundance of chemicals they can solve the problem. But it doesn’t work, and it often leads to further problems down the road. At the end of the summer, people are exasperated and they come in to say how awful their lawn looks, wanting to know what they can apply to “green it up.” I assure them that everyone’s lawn looks awful at this time of year.
We all know the problems brought on by the ubiquitous use of turfgrass. The proliferated use of fertilizers, fungicides, and insecticides, mostly made from petrochemicals, runs off of our lawns and into our ecologically sensitive waterways. Our aquifer is continuously depleted due to the over-watering of lawns, which many people believe is necessary in order to keep them green. But the maintenance of turfgrass just doesn’t add up.
Recently I was visiting some friends who had moved to Canyon Lake. Their new house was above a golf course that had been in the bank’s hands for many years with no sign of new investors. The bank obviously was not as attentive to the “green” though they did keep it cut. As we would walk the dogs along the paths, imagine my delight at seeing the proliferation of frog fruit, horseherb, moss verbena, and even Greg’s Dahlea. It was beautiful!
Thankfully, some nurseries are beginning to carry frog fruit and horseherb, which are both native groundcovers. One thing I try to do with customers is change the language from “weeds” to native groundcover. These two, along with dichondra (which the people of the Monte Vista neighborhood are letting take over their lawns) grow in sun or shade and stay low to the ground, though they can also be mowed and stand foot traffic. When left alone, both frog fruit and horseherb will flower, a great selling point to those interested in attracting butterflies. I myself have participated in what I call “guerrilla gardening,” having dug up these plants in my parent’s lawn and planting them in my own!
I believe one day people will look back at this struggle to keep our unnatural turf lawns green and shake their heads. In the meantime, as master naturalists, we can help bring about that change by gently sowing the seeds of revolution.
