TO LAWN, OR NOT TO LAWN?

An expanse of lush lawn in the Darebin Parklands. It should be noted that the majority of the Parklands is planted with native Australian bushland plants. The presence of expanses of lawn in the Parklands, however, raises the question 'have we adopted this English tradition to our detriment in this country?' 

Researchers have warned lawn lovers that their green grass obsession could have a significant impact on the environment. The study conducted by the University of Western Australia and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences looked at research from across the world at the impact of maintaining lawns.

The study found that the upkeep of lawn with its high water consumption, the use of pesticides, and the gas emitted from mowing, were all factors that had a significant impact on the environment.

Conventional grassy lawns as a universal urban ground feature can be replaced with a variety of drought-resistant native plants, new generation of ground-covers or other materials such as mulch and stones. Native plants are designed to cope with Australia’s hot, dry conditions, and while being environmentally friendly they also require far less time and expense to maintain. It’s still really important that we retain areas of lawn for leisure, but there are question marks about how much...

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.