George's Current Ramblings and Readlings

Are Lawns Horrible?

October 5th, 2021

   I detect a growing sentiment – apparently a corollary to the native-plant and save-the-pollinators movements – that we all should stop growing lawns.

Is this evil incarnate?

   It seems to go beyond just shrinking lawn space in favor of something more useful into a belief that lawns are downright evil.

   I’ve gleaned smatterings of that the past couple of years and heard opinions to that effect in a class I taught on lawn alternatives for Phipps Conservatory last summer.

   What nailed it down was an email I got from a reader (following a lawn-care post) that bluntly said, “Don’t you know that lawns are horrible? They are a desert for insects and thus birds. Plant a meadow.”

   So are lawns ecological wastelands that we all should get rid of as soon as possible? Are lawns really “horrible?”

   While I’m far from a lawn fanatic, my view is that like any other plant, turfgrass has its pros and cons as well as legitimate uses in our landscapes.

   I agree that meadows, native-plant gardens, and generally more diverse plantings are better at “servicing” the ecosystem.

   I agree that lawns cover an inordinate amount of our yard space, mainly because they’re cheap and easy to install, familiar to people, and ideal for foot-traffic uses, such as kids’ play space, entertaining, and pet runs. Turfgrass is basically our default plant choice.

   And I agree that lawns are a key source of water pollution, given all of the fertilizer, crabgrass preventers, grub controls, insecticides, and fungicides that some people use to achieve their green carpets.

   But horrible? An ecologic desert? I think that’s taking it a bit too far.

Cross These Off the “Deer-Safe” List

September 28th, 2021

   No plant is safe from the gnashing teeth of a hungry deer.

What’s left of my new Cornelian cherry dogwood tree after deer munched on it.

   That’s the lesson I learned first-hand last week when I looked out at my strangely barer driveway-bank bed, only to discover that “deer-resistant” plants the deer had let alone for two years were suddenly gnawed.

   A golden elderberry, a dark-leafed elderberry, several variegated Solomon’s seals, three panicle hydrangeas, several dwarf Virginia sweetspires, three fothergillas, a weigela, a diervilla, a dwarf lilac, and even a planting of the tropical wandering jew (how do they even know what that is?) were all browsed.

   And my patch of knowingly “risky” coral-colored, mildew-resistant Beacon impatiens? The ones that had gone untouched since May? Completely devoured, save for a couple of bare stem stubs.

   I can’t say I was completely surprised. I’ve heard the saying that there is no such thing as a “deer-proof” plant.

   But this was late summer after plentiful rains, meaning that unlike in the middle of winter, there were plenty of other dinner choices out there.

   The chewed plants (except for the impatiens) also were ones fairly low on most deer-resistant plant lists and ones I planted in my unfenced outer yard precisely because they typically aren’t deer favorites.

   I didn’t even attempt to plant hollies, roses, daylilies, hostas, any fruit or vegetable, or anything else on their preferred list out there, reserving those for use inside the back-yard deer fence.

   I thought I was in the clear outside the fence, though, after two years of real-life testing.

   Go figure. All it takes is one curious deer to polish off half a landscape bed in a single night – even plants his/her furry colleagues have passed by and passed up many times before.

   Just when you think you have them figured out…

The Once-in-a-Decade Plant Show

September 21st, 2021

   Sedum-covered roofs.

   Building walls clothed in foliage plants.

Plants cover the wall of this new university building at the 2022 Floriade site.

   Tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce growing under lights inside warehouse-like buildings instead of in farm fields.

   And scores of tree, shrub, and flower varieties growing everywhere instead of only the same few over-used favorites we grow in our skinny house-front beds.

   Those are some of the plant-related, enviro-friendly innovations that will be on display next April 14 through Oct. 9 when the Dutch stage their once-in-a-decade Floriade Expo 2022.

   The small, plant-loving European nation of The Netherlands has been running Floriades since 1960, usually leaving behind a nicely landscaped Dutch park in its wake.

   I’ve seen two of them (2002 and 2012) and found them impressive enough that I’ll be leading two trips to see Floriade 2022 next spring (Covid permitting).

   I just got back from previewing the 2022 site that’s already under construction and planting and believe this one has the potential to out-do the previous two.

Bringing Back My Zombie Lawn

September 14th, 2021

   Last year at this time, I was laboring behind a heavy, gas-powered dethatching machine, tearing up the remnants of a dead front lawn.

Here I am digging up dead turf with a dethatching machine last September.

   Nearly the entire quarter-acre of thatch-infested grass died following weeks of punishing late-summer heat and no rain.

   I’d never lost that much grass before, and I had to reseed and water, water, water the whole wretched expanse.

   My GreenView blend of Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and fine fescue came up nicely and looked reasonably good by late fall and into this spring.

   But when summer heat returned, I ended up with a thin lawn infected with red-thread disease and outbreaks of crabgrass, nutsedge, and a host of broad-leaf weeds (oxalis, clover, plantain, dandelions, spotted spurge, etc.)

   After a dry spell in August, my zombie lawn was looking sickly, brown, and weedy.

   I thought I’d share what I’m planning to do next since 1.) these setbacks are fairly common when starting or replacing a lawn, and 2.) many of you no doubt have struggling lawns, too.

   After all, this is the best time of year to do something about it all.

   I should first mention that I’m not a lawn fanatic who’s shooting for that perfect green carpet.

   I’m also not a fan of the big lawn I inherited. A quarter-acre of it is more than I would’ve wanted, and if I were 20 years younger, I’d be replacing the majority of it with garden beds so that the lawn served merely as the paths between the beds, as was the case at my previous Cumberland County home.

   My new lawn in the Pittsburgh suburbs is a problem child for several reasons.

   One is that the underlying soil is rock hard – a compacted, sluggish, blackish clay that looks like something on the way to becoming coal.

   Another is that the lawn is on a busy traffic corner (asphalt on two sides) and has sloping east- and south-facing exposures.

   That means it’s a site getting extra heat and hot summer breezes from the roads and cars and is getting maximum-sharp rays from the afternoon sun.

   Those roadside perimeters also are getting road salt from winter plowing, which amplifies the effect of summer dryness on grass roots.

   On top of that, the lawn has a history of neglect bordering on abuse – information I picked up from neighbors.

This ‘n That

September 7th, 2021

   Let’s catch up this week on a few gardening shorties and news tidbits you might find useful…

Roundup soon will have a different formulation — without the controversial glyphosate.

The end of Roundup as we know it

   Did you hear about Bayer AG’s announcement that it plans to pull the controversial ingredient glyphosate from its Roundup weed-killer?

   Roundup has been the most popular herbicide since it was introduced in the 1970s, but it’s come under fire in recent years under suspicion of causing non-Hodgkins lymphoma (a form of cancer).

   While Bayer and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maintain that glyphosate isn’t a threat to human health or the environment, the company has been losing a string of multi-million-dollar lawsuits lately.

   To limit “litigation risk,” Bayer says it’s phasing glyphosate out of the consumer version of Roundup by January 2023, meaning gardeners will have to rethink what some have used as their go-to weed-control weapon for decades.

   This doesn’t mean Roundup itself will be gone.

   For one thing, Bayer’s voluntary pullback doesn’t include professional and agricultural sales. That means the current glyphosate-based formulation of Roundup will still be available for licensed applicators in commercial settings and for farmers to spray on crop fields.

   Second, Bayer isn’t taking the Roundup brand off the market… just changing what’s in it. No word yet on what will replace glyphosate, but Bayer has earmarked billions of dollars for research into new weed-killing agents.

   If you’re not a chemical gardener in the first place, the change will have no impact (other than affecting what neighbors around you are spraying).

   But if you’ve relied on Roundup, you’ll have a few decisions to make, i.e. switching to other sprays that continue to include glyphosate, trying the new Roundup formula to see how well it works, or switching gears to fight weeds in other ways.

   If you need weed-fighting help, check out my 2015 post on “Winning the Weed War.”

Where does your rainfall go?

   Gardeners tend to be way more concerned about getting enough rain than what happens to rain after it leaves our yards.

   If you’ve ever wondered where your runoff goes, Pittsburgh web developer Sam Learner has developed a free online tool that creates a customized video of the course rain takes from your yard the whole way to the bay or ocean.