A farewell to lawns:
Native turf-grass alternatives can reduce your environmental footprint while supporting birds, butterflies and other living creatures.

Jay Keck, habitat education manager for the South Carolina Wildlife Federation recently started letting part of his lawn go natural by planting bushy bluestem, green-headed coneflowers and other native flowering plants.

“Asters, goldenrods, boneset and other wildflowers started coming up on their own,” he says. “In fall, the plants are covered with pollinators, including monarch butterflies.”

Keck and his young sons now enjoy watching birds on their property, including chipping sparrows and blue grosbeaks.

Unlike most conventional turf lawns, native plants, zoysia and Kentucky bluegrass, for example, allow homeowners to cut back on pesticides, fertilizers, mowing and watering.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, lawns and gardens in this country are sprayed with more than 90 million pounds of insecticides and herbicides a year.

The mowers and edgers that maintain them emit nearly 27 million tons of air pollutants annually. And U.S. residents squander a whopping 9 billion gallons of water outdoors each day, primarily on landscape irrigation.

For these reasons and more, “we need to start considering alternatives to traditional grasses,” says Keenan Amundsen, a turf specialist and associate professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

[nwf.org]