IS YOUR LUSH LAWN KILLING MOTHER NATURE?.

• Date: 01 April 2023
• Author: Hightower, Jim

Growing up, I learned a lot of valuable lessons from the example set by my OF Texas Daddy: a strong commitment to the common good, a healthy work ethic, and a lively sense of humor. But there's one thing about him I've rejected: his determination to have a perfect yard of thick, verdant, St. Augustine grass.

Lord, how he worked at it, laying sod, watering, fertilizing, watering, weeding, watering, spreading pesticides, watering, mowing, more watering. But it was too hot, too dry, and too infested with blight, bugs, slugs, and such. He was up against Texas nature, and he just couldn't win.

So I've gone in the opposite direction, slowly nurturing a natural yard of native trees, drought-tolerant plants, flowering perennials, low-maintenance upkeep, and a general live-with-nature ethic in my little landscape. I'm hardly alone in my maverick rejection of the uniform green-grass imperative.

Sometimes little things can be a big deal. In...