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| Home & Garden readers might also want to read Keep it Green, a gardening column by Michael Womack. |
Saturday, May 12, 2001
Losing the lawn
Residents find alternatives to the weekly mowing routine
By Marshall Anderson
Caller-Times
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| David Pellerin/Caller-Times |
| Native plants and trees make up Jane Deisler-Seno’s lawn at her home in Brighton Village. Walks give structure to the overall appearance. |
A small but growing band of independent-minded homeowners has replaced the traditional lawn with wildflowers, shrubs and groundcovers that require less water and less care.
Jane Deisler-Seno merged her love of nature with her desire to free herself and her husband from the tiring regularity of lawn maintenance at their Brighton Village home. She also had paths and patios installed to avoid that gone-to-seed look.
"When we moved in, in ’93, we had a St. Augustine grass lawn, and it became an onerous task to have to mow every few days," said Deisler-Seno. "The grass also had to be watered constantly. One of our goals was to have a private place for the family to sit and something to buffer sound."
Outdoor living space
By planting wildflowers and low-water bushes such as esperanza, cenizo, crape myrtle and red yucca, Deisler-Seno can set her own schedule for landscape maintenance.
"My yard is a certified Texas Wildscape: Backyard Wildlife Habitat - a certification you apply for through the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department," said Deisler-Seno, curator of natural history at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. "You have to
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| David Pellerin/Caller-Times |
| Jane Deisler-Seno planned her yard to provide a natural landscape without looking unkempt or overgrown. |
provide food, shelter, water and nesting sites for native organisms with it. The advantage of this landscape is the flexibility to trim it when I want to. It also gives us an outdoor living space. When we had a lawn, we would only walk across it to get to the mailbox."
Wayne Hanselka, range specialist for the Texas A&M University Agricultural Extension Service in Corpus Christi, said that he welcomes the gradual movement to less lawn.
"There is a movement afoot toward xeriscape and low-maintenance, and I like it," Hanselka said. "I think we’ll see more and more of this over the long term, replacing St. Augustine grass with low-water grasses and plants. Wildflowers are very attractive natives - many people sow bluebonnets, wine cups, Indian blankets and Indian paintbrushes."
Bye-bye, yard work
The absence of a formal lawn is one of the reasons Robert Gaskill and his wife moved from San Antonio to the Beachwalk subdivision in Port Aransas two years ago. The lack of a formal lawn is written into the subdivision’s deed restrictions.
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| David Pellerin/Caller-Times |
| The native esperanza plants in Deisler-Seno’s yard produce yellow flowers. |
"We’re retired and we like to travel, and I didn’t want the weekly maintenance of having to cut the grass," Gaskill said. "The fact that there was not lawn was one of the selling points for me. They just don’t want you putting down sod and having lawn mowers running all the time, because the houses are close together. We’re just kind of letting it grow natural."
Stan Starrett, owner and developer of the subdivision, said his aim was to promote xeriscape and to conserve water by avoiding the traditional lawn.
"We have a natural grass called saltgrass that grows there," Starrett said. "That complements the xeriscape, requires no maintenance and takes no water. The total concept is to use xeriscape and to use the indigenous plants from the area. TNRCC gave us an award for environmental excellence in 1999 for our efforts."
No mow worries
Rockport resident Ernie Edmundson said she went the traditional-lawn route when she and her husband, moved into their Key Allegro home, but it was a losing battle.
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| David Pellerin/Caller-Times |
| Deisler-Seno’s yard provides food, shelter, water and nesting sites for native creatures. |
"I couldn’t keep the St. Augustine grass alive because we have very little rain and very sandy soil that drains quickly," Edmundson said. "We gradually took parts of the grass out and replaced them with native plants that looked more natural and are inviting to birds. Hummingbirds love the native salvias in your backyard. Another is beauty berry, which is native to this area and attracts cardinals and mockingbirds.
Texas Agricultural Extension Service horticulturist Michael Womack applauds the development toward more water-efficient plants such as natives.
"It may not be for everyone, because it may not be the look you want, but there are better selections of native plants coming out all the time," Womack said. "We need to look at alternatives to grass to reduce landscape water use, whether through wildflowers, groundcovers, mulches - there are a lot of options out there."
Contact staff writer Marshall Anderson at 886-3773 or andersonm@caller.com
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