Taking Out the Grass is a gas (or lawnless in Seattle) June 29, 2009

My good friend Sharon turned me on a hilarious YouTube video, Taking Out the Grass, featuring Santa Barbara landscape designer Owen Dell. Check it out. As funny as it is though, lawns are a serious matter. There’s really no reason to have a lawn unless it serves a useful purpose—such as for kids to play on, sports, or other recreation. To use excessive amounts of our precious drinking water on useless turf—which is one of the thirstiest plants you can grow—just doesn’t make sense. In California, people water their lawns like crazy from spring through fall to keep them green. I noticed that in my sister-in-law’s Seattle neighborhood, some homeowners keep their lawns green by watering in summer and others let them go brown. Neither one is a good option (sorry, but I find those brown lawns pretty darn unattractive). Instead, imagine a beautiful low water landscape like the one here designed by Mosaic Gardens! If you’re thinking about redoing your landscape, consider a no-lawn option. You’ll find great resources online. For instance, check out King County’s Northwest Yard and Garden: Native Plant Resources for the Pacific Northwest. Click on the interactive Native Plant Guide where you can search for plants by photos or growing conditions. WSU Extension Clark County also offers a Plant Identification Database that includes pictures of each plant. As Dell and friends say, “taking out the grass is a gas, can you dig it?”