host posted on June 07, 2008 09:12
Among the tall grasses and blooming flowers, chirping birds and buzzing bees, in a corner of the town of Janesville, is the appearance of a time gone by. Until you realize this slice of nature is John Maher's front yard.
"It would have been a lot of grass to cut, and I was not too interested in that," said Maher, who bought the property about 15 years ago, and replaced his typial close-cut green lawn shortly thereafter.
Then a few years ago, his neighbor across the street got the same idea. Half of Liz Muraki's lawn still looks like a conventional yard, but two years ago she turned the rest into a waist-high wonder. "Because we didn't want so much lawn to mow and take care of," said Muraki.
Chris Kaplan works for a Tallgrass Restoration, a Milton-based company that restores farms and yards into prairie. "It's definitely shifting, it's catching interest," said Kaplan. He said in the past, most of his clients were farmers looking to restore unproductive parcels of land. Lately, he's noticed an uptick in the number of average homeowners looking for his service.
Kaplan said the benefits include bringing back birds and other animals. "If you have a mowed surface, it's an ecological desert," he said.
The native plants also tend to be more drought resistant. That means no watering. That's a benefit since the Environmental Protection Agency says the average lawn in this country drinks up 60 to 100 gallons of water a week.
When it does rain, the native plants have longer roots, which help soak the water up better than lawn grass, reducing runoff. There's also no pesticides or fertilizers to worry about. Since the plants can also be perennials, there's no flowers to replant every year.
Of course, plenty of people still prefer the look of a manicured lawn. Because of that, some cities limit native yards. For instance, in Madison, if you plan to plant grass that's more than eigh inches tall, and if more than half of your neighbors within 200 yards don't like the looks of it, the city likely won't allow it.
Even Kaplan reminds clients this might not be for them. "If you want the specimen plant and this bare mulch around it, a clean crisp line of grass, this probbaly isn't where you want to invest you time and energy," he advised.
By the looks, though, there are plenty of people who don't mind the shaggy look.
"It's (also) five or ten degrees cooler," said Maher, who often walks into his restored prairie. He said the grasses can reach up to twelve feet high. "It cools the area."
"It's much more beautiful than a lawn," said Muraki.
Keep in mind, natural lawns still take work. Even after the initial changeover, it takes two years for them to fully take root.
Then homeowners need to be aware when invasive species appear, and how to remove them. People who have large lawns also need a professional every few years to come in and conduct prescribed burns.