That Non-Native Grass Has Got to Go!

By Deborah Lebow Aal

It’s Spring, thank goodness, and time to look at your landscape and maybe re-think it? Do you really need that expanse of green grass, or lawn, in the front of your house?

There are many reasons to get rid of our non-native grass (e.g., the ubiquitous Kentucky Blue Grass (KBG) on the Front Range, not the least of which is the amount of water it takes to keep it looking green. I remind you that the Front Range got about 8.5 inches of precipitation last year. And, of course, most of our water comes from snow melt, but that wasn’t looking so good either. Why we have so much non-native grass as we do on the Front Range is beyond me. Of course, there’s a history to it.

Although lawns began to appear in England and France in the 18th century, they did not begin to appear in the U.S. till much later. Thomas Jefferson saw expanses of green lawn in Europe and, greatly impressed, copied the style at Monticello. George Washington also tried achieve this European style at Mt. Vernon. A lawn was not easy to grow before the advent of herbicides, pesticides, chemical fertilizers and the lawnmower, but, as a symbol of wealth, it gradually made its way into the mainstream and became the default landscape in America. We have something like 63,000 square miles of lawn – mostly Kentucky Blue grass – in the U.S (about the size of Texas). And in Denver, I’ve seen a statistic that 60% of our outdoor landscape is lawn. I think it’s more, looking around our neighborhood.

Now, I get that an expanse of green is soothing to the eye, frames a flower garden well, and can be beautiful. It just doesn’t belong here, if it’s KBG, on the Front Range.

But, you say, my lawn is easy and other alternatives are not.

That is true and not true. Certainly you don’t have to think about it very much, You know you have to water it and mow it and weed it and fertilize it, but it requires no creative thinking, and you can hire a mow and blow company to do all that. But, you are putting a lot of effort, or someone else’s effort and your money, into something that supports no wildlife. No birds, butterflies, or other pollinators dine on your lawn. It is pretty darn sterile. Well, actually, Japanese beetle larvae develop primarily on grass roots, and geese feed on grass as well. 

Is it time to think differently about the default landscape, here? I think so.

To be clear, even though you may want your landscape to be easy to maintain, there is no such thing as a maintenence–free yard. Not if you want it to look nice. 

So, what are some good alternatives?

Buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides) is a native grass that requires much less water than KBG. So, if you want to maintain the idea of a lawn, a place you can walk and play, it is better for the ecosystem, providing shelter and food for native insects. It will not be as green as KBG and that’s the catch– you have to be okay with brown. 

If you don’t need a lawn area to walk on, there are a myriad of bunch grasses you can plant. It will look less like a lawn and more like the short-grass prairie that was here. Bunch grasses such as Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis), Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), interspersed with spring bulbs, can be a beautiful alternative to a lawn, and over time, requires a lot less maintenance. It’s just not for walking on, and probably not compatible with dogs. There are many options for making a prairie-like landscape, too many for me to go into, here. The point is that having an expanse of KBG or other non-native grasses as a lawn is a missed opportunity for the ecosystem, and perhaps for you. You can use you outdoor landscape to get creative. If you go with native plants, once established, native they will need much less water than your lawn, and will provide an array of interesting insects, butterflies and birds, depending of course on what you plant.

Making the switch is a whole other topic. There are many ways to do this, and much discussion out there, to get you started.  If this appeals to you, think about taking just a small portion of your lawn out at first, as opposed to getting rid of it all at once, which can seem daunting.

And, I know, if you have read this whole article, you may already have done some of this. The ecosystem thanks you. 

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