When you drive through a suburban neighborhood, what do you see? Cookie-cutter houses, each with a driveway and a car, and green, evenly-cut grass as far as the eye can see. These houses’ lawns are impeccable; not a spot of discoloration, trimmed beautifully, with patterns mowed into the ground. It’s a sign of social “correctness” to the average nuclear family. To me, it’s disgusting.
We live in an era where native species are dwindling in many areas. From butterflies to bees to chipmunks, squirrels, and bunnies, each has become harder and harder to find around neighborhoods. This is due in part to the prevalence of the lawn.Â
Only one kind of grass is grown, usually not native, and it is maintained via cutting it down weekly and spraying a multitude of weedkillers and pesticides over top of it. There is no diversity in plant life, and therefore there is no diversity in animal and bug life, either. Their populations suffer in suburbia.
So what can you do to draw more of nature back into your garden? The first step would be to plant more native plants. Of course, many living in the suburbs do not want tall grasses or flowers that may hide things like ticks. They want their children to be able to run around and play unimpeded. This is why I suggest a lawn of native clover. There are clover plants native to almost everywhere across the United States, and it does not grow much taller than neatly-trimmed grass. Even just introducing one native plant can help greatly.
Along the sides or back of your yard, consider starting a garden of native plants. Try things like milkweed to attract butterflies, bee balm to attract hummingbirds and bumblebees, goldenrod, asters, coneflower, and more. The more diversity, the better for the environment — and, frankly, it’ll smell great. Be sure to look up what kinds of plants are native to your area!
The disaster that is the American lawn is one of the things I’m most passionate about. I firmly believe that as people who live on the earth, it is our responsibility to ensure that it stays well-taken care of, for every creature that lives here, not just us. If you’d like to see more bees, butterflies, and birds in your yard, consider planting native.