Re: OT:herbicides: a rant

We use herbicides and insectides very sparingly and we have flowers of some sort or
another in bloom all summer long.  We also have bees in such numbers there is no
way to count them, not just the European bee either.  But lets face it, there are
some pests in this world whether they be insect or plant life.  We will not allow
ticks or fleas to become a problem and the same goes for some plants.  My wife is
allergic to poison ivy/oak, we don't have any in the yard and we never will.  As
you mentioned, henbit can get 8 to 10 inches high, this is a pest plant when it is
in the iris beds.  Some of our iris we couldn't even see for the henbit.  As far as
our lawn goes, I could care less what else other than turf is growing in it.  :)  I
do like it green,  :)  so I will water it once in awhile.  Have a nice weekend!  :)

Glenn & Linda Simmons
Springfield, Missouri  Zone 6
e-mail  glsimmon@swbell.net


J. Michael, Celia or Ben Storey wrote:

> >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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