Pollan Takes on the Great American Lawn

"The lawn is a symbol of everything that's wrong with our relationship to the land," Pollan declares in today's NY Times.  Per acre, our lawns receive FOUR times as much chemical pesticide as any American farmland. 

Pollan goes on to call for the total removal of the White House lawn and its replacement with a meadow, more veg gardens, or - his preferred alternative - an orchard underplanted with meadow.

So readers, what do you think?  Is America ready for something that radical?  Or how about another alternative - getting that lawn off drugs?  The National Arboretum folks simply stopped putting anything on their lawn and it still looks good enough - and has reduced their lawn care expenses by 90 percent. 

By the way, if you haven't read Second Nature, Pollan's eye-opening book about gardening, DO.  Its chapter about lawns is unforgettable.  Ted Steinberg's whole book on the subject, American Green, is also terrific.

Comments

[tai haku]

Whilst I agree wholeheartedly with his general point some places just need lawns (primarily cricket pitches) and I think the white house is, to a certain extent, one of them.

[Ed Bruske]

You should alert readers that this piece by Pollan on the opinion page is from the NY Times archive. It's 17 years old and addressed to the first President Bush.

[Susan Harris]

I couldn't find a date myself, so thanks for providing it. And that's edifying; it's the NYT that choose to move the conversation beyond planting a veg garden to making the whole 18 acre more sustainable. I hope Pollan starts talking about this himself.

[Tara Dillard]

How old is the meadow idea? CENTURIES. European landscapes never stopped using them.

I've been designing Tara Turf for over a decade. Tara Turf is low meadow with grass, dwarf bulbs, clover, what the wind blows in. It's regional. It's fragrant & attractive to honeybees and other beneficial insects.

Watering? Never. Fertilizer? Never. Insecticides? Never. Mowing? Less than half what lawns demand.

Cut at 2-3 heights Tara Turf supplies enough 'formality' to please Sissinghurst one of the world's most acclaimed, and visited, landscapes.

When Bush declared war from the White House lawn I was embarrassed, not at the war, but the White House lawn.

How can America be a 'superpower' and not know how to garden?

There's a picture of Tara Turf on my blog, www.TaraDillard.com.

And will the White House vegetable garden be as gorgeous as Sir Walter Scott's vegetable garden? It's doubtful at the moment.

Why can't America take proven templates and garden with form & function?

Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

[Susan Harris]

Tara, don't make us look for it! You can copy and paste the URL for wherever that photo is right into this comment box.

[Frank@nycgarden]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rrN3DDvvN4Y/SKtuOA_H0KI/AAAAAAAAAr8/ZjcNxelJB30/s1600/ASI33.jpg

Just checking about that copy and paste.

[Frank@nycgarden]

Sweet. It works!

Now you do it Tara!

[Frank@nycgarden]

http://nycgarden.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-to-make-8-loaf-of-bread-or-alice.html

Susan, now you've got trouble, I've learned a new trick.

I think we have a war of symbols going on and there is a major offensive by the "stewards." I wonder if this was the kind of excitement and discourse Christian Fundamentalists had when Bush II was elected.

The lawn is a few century old symbol of power and authority over the land (and its people and animals). I really do not see an orchard there. It would be really terrible to see George Washington chop down those cherry trees next time he is elected.

[Tara Dillard]

http://landscapeinventor.blogspot.com/2009/03/tara-turf.html

Pic & description of Tara Turf.

Thanks Susan!
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

[Jay]

Well, I like the yard, as long as it is useful and used. You need an area for kids (and the dog!) to run around in.

I do think a lot of people tend to have a lot more lawn than they use. So I think lawns have a use; but I also think they are over used. So I "sort of" subscribe to the food-not-lawns school of thought; mainly to increase awareness and legitimacy of the alternatives.

The lawn has a bad name with gardeners. Sure it is overused, but it has a use. I keep a lawn in the front, and the back is a bit, ahem, thicker with life ;)

Now, as for chemicals being poured on lawns, I am against that, somewhat strongly. Visualized on the grand scale, it's funny and sad that we pour these chemicals onto lawns across the country.

[Dee/reddirtramblings]

I vote for the drug fee lawn. A nice, small orchard might be nice and more interesting too, but hey, at least they started a vegetable garden.

[Pam J.]

In today's print edition of the NYT (Week in Review section), Mark Bittman tackles the ever-interesting topic of what "organic" means and doesn't mean.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/weekinreview/22bittman.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=mark%20bittman&st=cse

[Lucinda]

Hey, Susan, Sounds like the White House could use a Garden Coach! Since you are in the loop anything is posible at this point! If the WH hired a coach, can you imagine what that would do for the profession?
I educated my HOA and now we have an organic lawn. It's the first step - lawn removal in public places is way too radical for most people. First get them off the synthetic fertilizers.

[themanicgardner]

Ted Steinberg's American Green is indeed terrific--very readable and full of fascinating stuff. (Fences between yards were forbidden in the various Levittowns, the housing developments that more or less planted--sorry--the lawn at the center of middle class life. I'll have to look at Pollen's stuff.
--Kate

[Commercial carpet cleaning services]

WOW! This is really great American Lawn..I like it

[Plantanista]

An drug-free lawn in the DC climate is a perfectly good alternative, as long as the climate allows the lawn to go without a whole lot of supplemental irrigation. With the right low-mow or no-mow species it could be downright meadowy.

But what about the Easter Egg Roll?

Total lawn conversions are definitely called for in areas where they require supplemental irrigation.

Pollan's "Second Nature" is a great read and I've been through various parts of it several times, especially the lawn piece, which is still revolutionary as it applies to the cherished suburban lawn. At least some of the larger institutions have seen the light. Cost savings have helped.

[Marie Viljoen]

I used to advocate tilling up the lawn and planting pretty weeds and herbs. But then I visited Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens again, a month or so ago, In Cape Town.

http://66squarefeet.blogspot.com/2009/03/kirstenbosch.html

The lawns are folded over the lower slopes of Table Mountain, between lush beds of native trees, shrubs and perennials. It was the middle of the week, a quiet day, and dotted about on the emerald grass were mothers and children, fathers and children, couples napping, someone playing beach bats. It was idyllic and sylvan. And I suddenly saw that one of the greatest blessings of a garden can be a lawn...it does not have to be toxic.

My parents have an extensive lawn and never use chemicals on it.

The idea of moving away from a chemical lawn is obviously a good one, but I would plead for some moderation. The Fundamentalist type of blanket-attack on lawns/conventionally produced fruit and vegetables/out of season produce is just that: intolerant and immodest. We are moving in the right direction, but we should not firebomb the people whose choices are not ours.

It is also true that the great lawn uniting all American backyards, is usually the only feature of so many suburban gardens. The English are known as gardeners. Americans tend to be lawners. Let go some lawn and start gardening, is a good step.

What I want to know is:

What About Golf Courses?

[Bob Vaiden]

Well... I've spent a couple of days work clearing (and sometimes mowing) the prairie\woodland areas of my yard...

Now, I'm just watching wild tulips and daffodils, Bloodroot and Hepatica bloom, as a hundred other types erupt out of the ground to join them...

And...a LITTLE bit of lawn is fine; I have SOME:)

[Michelle D.]

Why are you against lawns ?

They, like any other plant can be maintained organically and energy efficiently.
Are you against the chemicals that are applied on the garden grass or are you just against grass as a garden surface ?

When choosing a plant for any garden a well informed person will choose a plant specific to their site's needs and the homeowners desires/ functions.

The choice of a lawn is a perfectly well thought out option for the White House.
It provides an easy flat greens span to walk across, play on, and hold receptions upon.

A meadow , a vegetable garden, a shrub like groundcover or an orchard does not meet those criteria.

There is an old adage , right plant right place.

[Pam J.]

Changing the way golf courses take care of their grounds (through state or county laws) seems like a feasible thing to accomplish. Or am I being naive?

[Susan Harris]

By "you" do you mean me? I'm definitely not against lawns and here's my Standard Disclaimer about lawn removal, in which I defend it and just lobby for nontoxic lawn care.
http://www.sustainable-gardening.com/lawn/Disclaimer.php

[Susan Harris]

And here's my article "Golf, will it ever be green?
http://www.gardenrant.com/my_weblog/2008/08/golf-will-it-ev.html

[Jeff Gillman]

There's something a bit hypocritical about what Pollan says in this piece. First, his point that turfgrasses weren't meant to grow here is a little silly. Sure, many turf grasses weren't meant to grow here -- but some native grasses (some fescues) are used for lawns. Second, he posits that we should replace our "introduced" lawns with something more appropriate for our climate and conditions -- and suggests the introduced apple. That doesn't make sense to me.

Also, while I heartily agree that we should eliminate the use of pesticides on our lawns I don't think that apple trees are the way to do it. To keep them as pristine as would be demanded by the White House might involve "offending nature" (something that Pollan thinks these apple trees won't do). As a person who spent 20 years dealing with growing apples both with and without the use of poisons I can tell you that they're tough trees to grow fruit on without the use of chemicals. How would the whitehouse look if it was full of apples covered with scab, fireblight, apple maggots, codling moth, or various other diseases and insects?

All this said I like his meadow and wetland ideas -- and the vegetable idea too though once again it's somewhat hypocritical depending on what vegetables are planted (many are not native).

I'd recommend a small forest -- A mixture of both native and introduced trees selected because of their usefulness to man and the environment. And I'd recommend showing off the damage created by pests -- The message being that we'd rather suffer a little damage than use environmentally insensitive pesticides.

[Susan Harris]

Jeff, I was also surprised to see Pollan's objection that turfgrasses aren't native. Esp. considering his well-known rant "Against Nativism" from 1993:
http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=31

[Fern @ Life on the Balcony]

I think a meadow would be beautiful. In addition to the points made above, (1) it would be a great way to showcase native American plants and flowers, (2) it would look beautiful, (3) it would support animals, birds and insects that would in turn help keep the new vegetable garden healthy, and (4) once it was established it would take less work to maintain than acres upon acres of lawn.