Re: OT:herbicides: a rant

>One of the biggest of these companies is called "Chemlawn."  That says it all.
>Gives a whole new meaning to the admonition "Keep Off the Grass."
>
Bill, as I was reading your email message, a Chemlawn rep called on the
phone to ask if I'd received his "estimate." He said he'd been in the
neighborhood making estimates for people and thought I wanted one. I know
he wanted to give me one. I'm sure he drove by the day before I mowed and
got a good big eyeful of my "native plants display." He probably figured I
would be thrilled to have my lawn made to look like everyone else's if only
he could convince me I could afford it.

When I told him I don't believe in lawn monoculture, and that removing the
henbit and dead nettle and wild garlic and so forth would deny the few bees
we have left much desperately needed forage, he paused a minute, chuckled
and then said, "Well, you're right about that. We're killing the bee fodder
for sure."

This poor guy just works for the company, and I don't blame him. I don't
even blame Chemlawn for making a living serving people who want their
product. But I wish my neighbors would look beyond the cookie-cutter taste
they've learned from golf courses and realize that all this suburban
uniformity does have a downside. The hop toads and honey bees of our
childhood are few and far between today. Meanwhile, lush carpets of
water-guzzling, fertilizer-dependent lawn grass proliferate.

My "native plants display" looks acceptably manicured when I mow it, and it
stays green without watering all summer unless we have a hellish summer. If
I never mowed, the plants that volunteer out there wouldn't get any taller
than the henbit is right now in the sideyard, which is about 8 to 10 inches
high.

I don't hate grasses. I like the St. Augustine, bermuda and centipede that
somehow survive in our yard without any special attention. they're useful
groundcover. But I don't understand this fixation with a "flawless" lawn.
Where does it come from? Is lawn another dubious legacy of Capability Brown?

celia
storey@aristotle.net
Little Rock, Arkansas, USDA Zone 7b
-----------------------------------
257 feet above sea level,
average rainfall about 50 inches (more than 60" in '97)
average relative humidity (at 6 a.m.) 84%.
moderate winters, hot summers ... but lots of seesaw action in all seasons
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