If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

If you have a large lawn, it is. How so, you may ask? The all-American lush, beautiful green lawn requires continous mowing and watering and fertilizing to look good during peak months.

Did you know that power mowers pollute much more than cars? 93 times more in fact on a per gallon basis. If you’re looking for alternative mowers, consider a manual push-mower or electric mowers. The other polluter is from water runoff carrying all those fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides right into our lakes and streams. 

But many of us love our lawns and would be hard-pressed to give them up. Especially families whose kids depend on them for their Slip ‘n Slide or sprinkler dash. There is hope, however. Alternatives exist in the form of more natural. lower maintenance grasses - each part of the country has native sods requiring much less mowing and maintenance. 

Buffalo grass is one alternative and some grasses can work well at a longer length, requiring just a few cuttings per year compared to 35 or more for regular lawns. So here’s a short list of ‘greener’ lawn alternatives - more like a sedan or economy car rather than SUV.

West Coast: California Meadow Sedge (Carex praegracilis) and Seashore Bent Grass (Agrostis pallens)

Pacific Northwest including Northern California: Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis)

Midwest: Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pennsylvania), Appalachian Sedge (Carex appalachia)

Northern states: Red fescue (festuca rubra)

Texas and New Mexico: Blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis)

Southeast: Florida meadowsedge (Carex alba-lutescens), Texas hill sedge (Carex perdentata), Texas sedge (Carex texensis)

Check your local nurseries and/or your landscape designer for sourcing. And if you like to have a lawn for looks but don’t need the functionality, consider massing low-growing plants like Irish moss, Thyme or other ’steppable’ ground covers. This list is merely a start - if you have recommendations for your area, please add them in the comments!

Here’s to a greener green lawn.

Join the Million Faces Project at Thinkfrog. We’re making it easy for you to help stop global warming - just $10 and your photo!