Opinion: Letter to the Editor: A Little Essay on Lawns
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Opinion: Letter to the Editor: A Little Essay on Lawns

A lawn is grass under totalitarian rule.

A liberated and considerate lawn would:

  • give up some water to stressed woody plants during hot dry summer months,
  • not be so needy regarding fertilizer which goes mostly into the waterways i.e. Potomac
  • adjust to no lime in consideration of native plants nearby
  • welcome clover, dandelions, violets etc to support pollinators knowing that their numbers are plummeting
  • lose some size to earth friendly beds of shrubs and understory trees
  • be less insistent on leaf blowers, realizing Mother Nature decomposes many leaves all by herself
  • give up every third mowing to the removal of vinca, English ivy, Japanese honeysuckle, and multiflora rose

To quote Margaret Roach, author of A Way to Garden, “Turfgrass is dimensionless, supporting none of the beneficial insect life that in turn supports birds and other wildlife, and pollinates plants.”

Karen Young

Mount Vernon