Green Brief Commentary: The care-free lawn

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Editor’s note: Green Briefs is a series of commentaries by eco-leaders on Vashon, presented in The Beachcomber in partnership with The Whole Vashon Project.

Now that we are in the dry season and water is becoming more scarce, I would like to address what may be our greatest draw on water — a cultural meme that serves no practical purpose. I’m speaking of greening our lawns.

About 80% of Americans grow lawns, covering 40 million acres or 2% of the nation’s land area. Lawns are the single largest irrigated crop in the country, consuming billions of gallons of water every day.

Where did this tradition come from? A lawn originally was the area around a rural manse that had been grazed down by sheep, the original lawn mowers. I suppose that in parts of the British isles, especially the Emerald Isle, Ireland, the typically rainy weather in the summer keeps the grass green. Between summer rains and grazing sheep, the green lawn was born.

As you drive through Marin County on Route 101 in the summer, you will see golden hills garbed with clusters of vibrant green oak trees. In dry summer climates like ours, tan is the natural color of grass. It is not dead — merely resting. Even if it doesn’t get another drop of water until October, it will come to life again when the rains come back.

By refraining from watering, consider that you also do not have to mow, and do not have to weed and feed.

In our wet springs, you can almost watch the grass grow, and end up mowing weekly if not more often. If you want a place to stroll, or entertain, you will need to mow at least the part that you intend to use. But you can use your lawn for those activities just as well when the grass is tan and no longer needs mowing.

So what about those parts of your lawn where you seldom go? You can do one more good thing by doing even less. Just let it grow. Plant some wildflowers and watch how the birds and butterflies come to visit. All this by refraining from thankless tasks and expenses!

Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch. On our “Emerald Isle” of the Salish Sea, most land wants to be forest rather than meadow. If you live in such a place and you want to maintain a meadow, then you may have to pull some tree saplings up in the fall.

If you look at your surrounding land as an outlet for your physical and aesthetic efforts, there is no limit to what you can create with shrubs, flowers and other native wildlife, and it can be just as drought resistant if you design it that way.

One further consideration is fire resistance. Homeowners should maintain a non-combustible zone for the first five feet around their home, using materials such as gravel or rocks.

The intermediate zone, which consists of the next five to thirty feet, can include mowed grass, fire resistant small trees, grasses and shrubs. A well mowed and raked dry lawn, at least five feet from a structure, does not present a serious fire hazard, and you can find a list of more fire and drought resistant plants for our area at tinyurl.com/FirewisePugetSoundPlants.

Rather than using our precious water, let your lawn do what it wants to do and enjoy a vacation from mowing, watering, and other lawn care. If you are not on a well, you will also save significant expense from rising water costs. With some thought, you might turn your lawn into something you like better, or you could enjoy your golden lawn with far less effort.

In either case, your neighbors and island aquifers will appreciate your thoughtful conservation of our precious waters.

Terry Sullivan is an island writer and activist.