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Yes it is and we plan to eliminate as much grass as we can in our next home. The gardens below
look great and also invite important insects (including butterflies and bees) and birds.
"Government agencies and conservation groups, aided by volunteers, have undertaken numerous
restoration projects across the US and Canadian prairieland, some of them thousands of acres
in scale. In a recent years a cadre of private citizens has joined in, restoring prairie to their own
properties, from city yards up to 100 acres or more around rural homes and farms." by Rebecca
Kessler
"In a recent years a cadre of private citizens has joined in, restoring prairie to their own properties, from city yards up to 100 acres or more around rural homes and farms."
I suspect that some of that will be re-thought when someone dear to them, such as their child, contracts Lyme disease or any of the other tick-borne diseases that can leave you miserable and ill for life. One of the prime reasons you see huge lawns around rural homes is to limit the mice/voles/rats and other tick carrying pests. The idea of restoring habitats and bringing back some of the native vegetation is fine, just in moderation and with prudent planning.
I think wooded area or lawn is much more appropriate around a home than prairie. I also tend to think that forest captures far more carbon than prairie.
Also, what's with the assumption that lawns are all chemical laden monoculture wastelands? My lawn is a combination of many different grasses and ground covers. It never needs watering, fertilizer, herbicides or pesticides and is green 12 months of the year - just a weekly trim. It looks the best in March-May and September-October when the white clover blooms.
My lawn is a combination of many different grasses and ground covers. It never needs watering, fertilizer, herbicides or pesticides and is green 12 months of the year - just a weekly trim. It looks the best in March-May and September-October when the white clover blooms.
Just using some of the shorter-growing native grasses (such as buffalo grass) for lawns in the Plains areas instead of more water-hungry grasses such as bluegrass can make a big difference. It's really too bad it's not done more often!
"In a recent years a cadre of private citizens has joined in, restoring prairie to their own properties, from city yards up to 100 acres or more around rural homes and farms."
I suspect that some of that will be re-thought when someone dear to them, such as their child, contracts Lyme disease or any of the other tick-borne diseases that can leave you miserable and ill for life. One of the prime reasons you see huge lawns around rural homes is to limit the mice/voles/rats and other tick carrying pests. The idea of restoring habitats and bringing back some of the native vegetation is fine, just in moderation and with prudent planning.
I think wooded area or lawn is much more appropriate around a home than prairie. I also tend to think that forest captures far more carbon than prairie.
Also, what's with the assumption that lawns are all chemical laden monoculture wastelands? My lawn is a combination of many different grasses and ground covers. It never needs watering, fertilizer, herbicides or pesticides and is green 12 months of the year - just a weekly trim. It looks the best in March-May and September-October when the white clover blooms.
Forest is only relevant if its a naturally forested area. If its a prairie area... then prairie is "more appropriate."
Your lawn is mixed you say - how much of it supports indigenous species that lived there for 100,000 years before lawn-making humans turned up? I hope some at least.
No, when I said it is fine in moderation and prudent planning, that is NOT hysteria, and it is calm.
I happen to know some people who have Lyme. One was misdiagnosed for such a long time, and the disease left untreated, that she is massively immuno-compromised, requiring the support of both her husband and mother, and living a life dependent on antibiotics. Lyme is not a disease to mess with, and the related diseases are also on the CDC watchlist for mutations that could make them much worse.
That is not hysteria either, simply fact. You can do your own research on the spread of the disease and the effects. IMO, planting to encourage rodents near a house is an unsafe practice.
My house sits on a small hill, but this area is naturally bottomland so the lower part of my yard gets really wet and soggy when it rains a lot. I got so tired of trying to mow that area and not cause ruts in the lawn, so I started planted wetland type plants such as bald cypress, hornbeam, bluestem palm, sweetbay, and Fakahatchee grass... As these plants filled out I started laying down pine straw and getting rid of the lawn grass, and now I have my own mini wetland forest.
I can understand keeping a lawn around the perimeter of the house, say 30' or so, but if you have a larger property I just don't see the point of having a huge area of it. The older I get the less I enjoy mowing.
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