Jim Colbert serves on Prairie Rivers’ board of directors. This essay originally appeared on his Substack on June 16.
Hi. My name is “Jim” and I’m a lawn deviant. With less effort, less money, less water, and zero use of herbicides and fertilizers you could be a lawn deviant too. You’ll still have to mow.
Somewhere along the line, a lawn composed of a monoculture of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) became the cultural ideal for the yard surrounding a well-maintained suburban home. There can be a significant amount of “social pressure” to conform to this ideal. The entire business model of some commercial endeavors is designed to promote this ideal. Kentucky bluegrass is a pretty shade of green, and it smells nice when freshly mowed. It’s unclear whether it’s native to North America though you certainly wouldn’t have any trouble finding a specimen of Kentucky bluegrass here in the lawns of Iowa. I readily admit that baseball outfields of carefully mowed Kentucky bluegrass look appealing and make for a uniform playing surface. I also agree that a mowed area in the immediate vicinity of one’s home is comforting. Short grass makes it far easier to spot venomous snakes, should there be any in your region. It also decreases the likelihood of being bitten by ticks (arachnids in the order Ixodida), or ending up with intense itching caused by “chiggers” (mites in the family Trombiculidae) embedded in your skin, after spending some quality time in your backyard. But I encourage you to ponder whether a monoculture of Kentucky bluegrass is the best solution for these non-trivial issues.
Populations of many insect pollinators have been experiencing concerning declines in Iowa and across the United States. One approach to address this issue is to plant “pollinator gardens” to provide nectar and pollen for hungry pollinators. Kentucky bluegrass is of no help in this regard because it is “wind pollinated” (i.e., no insects needed), and it is typically mowed before it can flower anyway. It’s possible to spend considerable time, effort, and money to plant lovely, and effective, pollinator gardens and I certainly encourage that effort. But similar results can be achieved more easily by “doing nothing”. Simply allowing your lawn to be unmolested by watering, fertilizers, and herbicides provides a buffet for pollinators. Here in the Midwest allowing your lawn to “go wild” results in the presence of numerous “weed” species. Weeds are plants growing where they “want” to grow rather than where you want them to grow.
So, they’re plants. Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) are a very familiar, and often disparaged, “weed” in lawns. They are also an important early season food source for various pollinators including bees, butterflies, hoverflies, and beetles. The common blue violet (Viola sororia) is another early season “weed” that feeds pollinators, especially fritillary butterflies. Later in the season other “weeds” provide food sources for various insect pollinators. These include creeping charlie (Glechoma hederacea), black medic (Medicago lupulina), and white clover (Trifolium repens), amongst others. For me it’s like putting up a sign that reads “Eat at Jim’s”. You could have your own sign.
Deviant lawns have benefits beyond feeding pollinators. You don’t need to water or fertilize such lawns. That, of course, saves time and money. This leads to the additional benefit of needing to mow your lawn less often. I certainly have many better things to do than mow my lawn. You probably do too. No fertilizer also means decreased nutrient run-off from your lawn during heavy rains. Nutrients leaving your lawn in rainwater don’t “magically disappear”. These nutrients continue into storm sewers and enter rivers and streams causing algal blooms in various bodies of water and can contribute to the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. There’s also no need for herbicides in a diverse lawn. More time and money saved, plus the chemicals don’t leave your lawn potentially killing plants elsewhere that nobody wants killed. Lawn diversity has another benefit: some parts of your lawn are almost always “green” during the growing season. Regardless of whether the conditions are dry or wet, some species will be doing well. Crabgrass (Digitaria species) tolerates, and remains green, under much hotter and drier conditions than Kentucky bluegrass. Broadleaf plantain (Plantago major) also deals well with hot and dry conditions. Meanwhile, your neighbor with a Kentucky bluegrass monoculture must choose between lots of watering (maybe even installing an irrigation system) and having a crispy brown lawn. Nature abhors a monoculture. Sadly, that means you’ll still have to mow (a little) when your neighbor doesn’t.
The look of a uniform, neatly trimmed, lawn seems to have a widespread appeal. Homeowners Associations and neighbors may look askance at a healthy population of dandelions. But the costs of conformity are high. Less food for struggling pollinators. Contributions to nutrient pollution. Time, money, and effort spent on watering, fertilizing, herbicide treating, and more mowing. Is the goal of the perfectly manicured lawn worth it? Allow me to be brutally honest for a moment. Major League Baseball is NEVER going to contact you about hosting the World Series in your backyard. So, do less and accomplish more by being a lawn deviant.