This was the focus of our newsletter a few weeks ago but important so we are repeating it. Don't get us wrong, we love lawn. Quite frankly, we make our living on managing and maintaining lawns. That being said, we also hate trying to maintain lawn where it won't grow or where it is hard or expensive to maintain. The pictures below are examples of where lawn should not be.
Why is lawn where it shouldn't be?
The simplest answer is that lawn is the cheapest part of landscape installation and when brand new, looks great. New lawn on freshly prepared soil looks great. Parking strips and parking islands are probably the worst place for lawn. There is concrete or asphalt on most or all sides, often times the soil is shallow or there is rock or asphalt below, irrigation coverage is difficult due to small odd shapes and as tree roots develop, they compete for moisture. We believe that parking strips and islands may take as much as 5-10 times as much irrigation to maintain. A bad combination in which to grow and maintain lawns. In addition, these areas are difficult and sometimes dangerous to maintain due to nearby cars and obstacles on or near.
What is the Alternative?
There are lots of options. Replacing lawn with just barkdust or some sort of groundcover are both options. We have experimented with Sedum like on green roofs but it has had marginal success. We are seeing locally and nationally the use of rock and are very excited about that as an option. Below are several pictures of Rock as a groundcover that is very attractive and easy to maintain. Rocks do not need water and never die. Some have expressed concern about the liability risk with rocks but we believe that is low. If someone wants to throw a rock through a window, they will find it even if there is no rock in the landscape.
