Why are low-maintenance lawns becoming more popular with busy homeowners?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how the perfect lawn has to be just so impressive to whom. Since then I read a few more articles about the herculean efforts that many homeowners go to in order to mow and maintain their grass. My next door neighbor used to mow his lawn every Saturday morning at 7 am. The rain would not stop him. He would stomp out into the wet morning, the noisy whiny sound of his mower cutting through the air until he returned to his house covered in grass clippings. He looked so tired. I would watch him from my kitchen window over a cup of coffee wondering if he was getting any value from the perfectly manicured lawn. I suppose he did at first, but by the time he had to start mowing it every Saturday morning at 7 am, he seemed to be a tired man.

In this photo of my neighbor’s yard from last year, you can just make out his lawn mower in the upper right hand corner of the photo. He spent every Saturday morning for the last 3 years maintaining that yard. This year, he got rid of the lawn and mowed only a couple of times with his new mower. I have to say, his yard looks so much better now and he enjoys his front yard now too!

While this yard may not be the worst lawn in the world, it is a powerful symbol of the lawns across the country that are sucking water and resources out of homes. And I bet there are many yards just like this one on every block.

The lawn as a chore we inherited

For many Americans, the perfect lawn is the grass lawn, mowed, maniacally maintained, and a deep green. But the perfect grass lawn is a highly maintained piece of grass. It demands a lot of hours, a lot of money, and a lot of natural resources to maintain. Most of the large, multi-national companies that are involved in the lawn care industry as a supplier of products and services to homeowners were founded in the postwar era of suburbanization. This was the era when the grass lawn was first marketed to the masses through advertising and, through the creation and sale of thousands of different products—mowers, trimmers, edged, pruners, and thousands of fertilizers and pesticides—in the home lawn care store. In that postwar era of massive suburbanization of the American population, the two groups of large companies (lawn and garden equipment manufacturers and chemical-based lawn fertilizer and pesticide manufacturers) created an image of the perfect lawn for the average suburban homeowner to shoot for. Home lawns became a symbol of success for many suburban families. Because of the large numbers of homeowners and the amount of money that each spent on their lawn, it was an extremely profitable market for these companies to sell into. And, thus, the image of the perfectly maintained grass lawn became a sort of socially accepted expectation that every homeowner attempted to attain and to maintain in their yard. That image, however, is an impressive and beautiful lawn, but a very impressive and expensive to maintain yard.

Decades later, it is impressive to whom, that people continue to spend huge amounts of time, and money to maintain their lawns to a standard that is impressive to no one. That the average American lawn

Most lawns require a great deal of time to mow, to water, and to apply a variety of chemicals to maintain in top condition. Many of these chemicals are designed to be released into the environment as the lawn grows and require large amounts of water to keep a lawn of a reasonable size looking its best. In many parts of the country, the water used on lawns for irrigation could be better used to meet the potable needs of residents. In addition, the fertilizers and pesticides that are commonly used on lawns can cause significant environmental problems including runoff into surface waters and the creation of “dead zones” in rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. People have less time to devote to mowing and maintaining a lawn than in the past and are looking for ways to better use their time and money and to conserve a precious natural resource such as water. The reasons for which a lawn is to be maintained are changing and most lawns do not meet the needs of their owners as well as they could.

What “low-maintenance” actually looks like

In spite of all the beautiful examples of really amazing landscapes that are low-maintenance there’s a lot of false assumptions as to what they will look like. People believe that because a yard is low-maintenance that it can’t possibly be beautiful and will be some ugly, sad looking space. However, today there are many landscapes that are designed and look to be beautiful and really add to the curb appeal of a home as well as being low-maintenance.

First, the misconception that a homeowner with a low-maintenance yard must have a yard that is ugly, unmanicured, unsightly – not up to par with other very well-manicured lawns. But this is simply not true. More and more homes have beautiful looking yards with native groundcover. In many climates the grass will look better than regular grass that would turn to brown straw long before. And while regular lawns demand constant attention and care, low-maintenance grasses are more like a sports car – a bit more expensive to purchase at first, but then they are a great “car” to have around. With proper care and use, they can get you where you want to go better than any other option.

The yard of the future is made up of a combination of the following native plants and design elements.

• Drought-tolerant grass varieties that go dormant under stress rather than dying outright
• Native groundcovers adapted to local rainfall patterns over centuries of evolution
• Reduced or eliminated irrigation, which also cuts water bills noticeably
• Mulched garden beds that suppress weeds without chemical intervention
• Gravel or permeable hardscaping in high-traffic zones where grass struggles anyway

One of the grasses that we talk to a lot of homeowners about and that a lot of homeowners have already started to make the transition to is buffalo grass. This is a warm-season grass, native to the Great Plains region of the country, and it is a very, very low maintenance option for homeowners. This grass requires very little in the way of irrigation, and because it grows very slowly, it doesn’t require to be mowed very often. In fact, the recommended mowing frequency for this type of grass is about once a month during the peak growing season. This makes it a great option for homeowners who don’t want to have to spend a lot of time maintaining their lawn. It is also extremely durable and can handle a variety of weather conditions. Many homeowners have found that having a lawn made of buffalo grass is a great alternative to a traditional lawn and can be very cost effective in the long run.

The drought problem isn’t going away

One reason that many Americans have backyards with high-maintenance lawns and don’t enjoy to be in their backyards is because of water restrictions.

Water scarcity in many parts of the country is becoming the new normal to which municipalities and water managers must adapt. Already, many places are restricting lawn watering. As a result, a growing number of insurance companies are beginning to ask about the presence and type of irrigation systems that water lawns and other parts of the landscape on properties that they insure. It will only be a matter of time before those with high-maintenance, water-intensive lawns will realize that they are swimming against the current and will have to go through a potentially very expensive transition in order to remain in compliance with changing water policy.

There are many reasons for people to transition to a low-maintenance landscape, but I think the main reason is because people want to be able to use their yard and not spend all of their time and money servicing their lawn. As was mentioned before, in terms of hours of work, money, and environmental impact, the average lawn in the US is a large investment for something that most people can look at from their driveway. As the average American has less and less time to devote to their lawn, they are looking for a change.

The yard people actually want to use

Here is a quote I would like to include in my next newsletter. It would be nice to write that people need to have a low-maintenance lawn in order to be environmentally responsible, but that’s not the driving force behind this shift. I think people are discovering that it’s a lot more rewarding to have a yard that you can spend time in as opposed to time constantly maintaining the lawn. Many people have thirsty and demanding lawns and find that there are much better alternatives. Plus, a number of these are actually pretty and can look just as great as any lawn, and typically require a small fraction of the maintenance. What is a yard actually for? Kids running around. Grilling on a Tuesday evening. Sitting with a book on a Sunday afternoon when the light is right. None of those things require a flawless emerald carpet. They require a space that looks decent, feels comfortable underfoot, and doesn’t collapse into an embarrassment the moment you miss two weekends of maintenance.

You see to have a yard. Why? Kids playing around in it. Having a barbecue on Tuesday night. Sitting on a Sunday afternoon with a book. None of that requires a perfect, green lawn. The yard just needs to look ok. It needs to be comfortable enough to walk around on. And after a couple of weeks without work it should still look ok and not have turned into some sort of weeds disaster.

Lawn type	Avg. annual mowing hours	Drought tolerance	Typical water need
Kentucky bluegrass	40-60 hours	Low	High (irrigation usually needed)
Bermuda grass	30-50 hours	Moderate	Moderate
Buffalo grass	10-20 hours	High	Low (often rain-fed)
Native groundcover mix	Near zero	Very high	Minimal after establishment

(That table used to feel abstract to me. Then I added up how many Saturdays my neighbor gave to his lawn over a decade. It stopped feeling abstract very quickly.)

While there are many lawns that are left to wither and die when their owners abandon them to a low-maintenance lawn, this is not necessarily the case. Rather, the time and money that would normally be spent on a lawn can be redirected to better utilize the space outside of a home. The end result is a beautiful and functional outdoor space that is not dominated by a lawn that requires constant maintenance.

See also: What makes fresh lobster such a memorable coastal dining experience?

So what’s holding people back?

Yes, there is a fear of nosy parkers. A fear of a bald patch of grass. This can be more of a concern in certain residential areas where a homes association is in place. Yes, that’s right. A nosy parker with a clipboard. And, yes, that can be a real deterrent to those thinking of alternative ways to landscape their yard. And, yes, in some areas, there are even financial penalties imposed upon those who do not conform to the norm. And, yes, I am trying to downplay that here. But it is a reality for many.

So the misconception that many homeowners have of low-maintenance landscapes is that they will be ugly and lack curb appeal. This may have been true in the past, but that is not the case today. There are a wide variety of plants and landscapes available that are both water efficient and beautiful. In fact, as you can see from the before and after photos of the plants that we have used on this website, there is often a dramatic increase in beauty when a landscape is converted from a water hungry lawn to a low-maintenance landscape. And, while it is true that some plants will go dormant during the winter, this is perfectly natural and does not have to be unsightly.

My neighbor could probably tell you that three houses on our street now have various types of turf for lawns and that a fourth is currently deciding whether to go with a turf type lawn as well. My neighbor didn’t give up on his “yard” and now he can use his Saturday mornings for whatever he desires as opposed to servicing his thirsty, high maintenance Kentucky bluegrass lawn with hours of cutting, edging and fertilizing every year. He would probably tell you that the new type of yard he has now needs very little of his time and that it looks great. It looks exactly as he had always hoped.