The law 'n' the lawn - property rights and local regulations conflict over what kinds of lawns can adorn homes in various communities - Editorial

Flower & Garden Magazine, Oct-Nov, 1993 by Kay M. Olson

What occupies more land than an single crop in the United States? If your answer is "lawns," you either work in a turf-related industry. read Newsweek's recent article "The New Turf Wars," or made an intuitive guess based on the headline of this column. But if lawns are an integral part of the American home landscape, what's the reason for all the recent fuss about them?

The pristine green carpet of grass has long been in vogue, almost as mandatory an element in front of a house as the address numbers. But now the lawn seems to be losing some of its appeal. Some folks are beginning to buck the spring and fall fertilizing ritual, the weekend mowing ritual and the every-other-day in summer watering ritual and instead want to create meadows, wildlife havens and countless other non-traditional kinds of yards.

In a few cases, homeowners are actually fighting back in court against local government-enforced mandates of what length their grass blades cannot exceed and how their lawns must generally look. What's more, these nonconformists are winning. What's the world coming to?

When I was a kid, my family moved to a tract house in a new neighborhood built on an alfalfa field. With the exception of whether it was a three- or four-bedroom model, with or without a fireplace, the houses were identical. The yards were identical too -- no trees, no grass, no shrubs, no flowers.

We went without a lot of things in those "lean" years but my parents set aside enough money to buy a strip or two of sod with just about ever paycheck. We might have scrimped on food, clothes, cars and family vacations, but we had our middle-class priorities straight. We got a green lawn on the installment plan.

I have nothing against the "English manor" look of an expansive, well-groomed lawn sprawling out majestically from the front of the house. But I think it is wrong to legislate the way people can and cannot adorn their landscapes.

Yes, I would object to a view of neighboring property with weeds growing up amongst rusting auto parts. But I also object to townhome associations that will not allow residents to plant flowers of any kind, to county ordinances that make it an offense to grow a meadow in your back yard and to city laws that ban compost piles from the front lawn. (Before you, too, object to such a notion, see page 95 of this issue to learn how reader Patricia Valensi did just that and received compliments instead of criticism from neighbors and passersby.)

Green lawns feel great to bare feet, provide a beautiful backdrop for annual and perennial flowers and offer a myriad of other benefits. We shouldn't rid the landscape of lawns, but in my view, we should keep the law out of the lawn.