Turf wars over lawns
Manicured lawns are killing the environment, ecologists say. James Pasley reports.
No expenditure in ornamental gardening is, to our mind, productive of so much beauty as a wellkept lawn. Andrew Downing, 1847
In the US journal The Country Gentleman published an enthusiastic account of the lush green grass of New Zealand. ‘‘Think of New Zealand farms, not as a series of cultivated fields planted in various crops, but as perfect lawns or golf courses dotted with sheep and dairy cows,’’ wrote its correspondent, EV Wilcox.
Kiwis have spent hundreds of years replacing forests with grassy meadows for our sheep and cattle, and lush green English-inspired lawns to surround our homes.
Now, the great Kiwi pastime of lawnmowing has come under attack from ecologists, who say it damages the environment.
Mowing lawns is as much part of New Zealanders’ psyche as firing up the barbecue or cheering on the All Blacks – but Auckland University’s Bruce Burns says it is time for Kiwis to replace our manicured lawns with flowering meadows.
Burns is working with the Auckland Botanic Gardens to trial the effect of alternative approaches.
The Botanic Gardens research, which followed five different mowing treatments over the past three years, seeks to reduce mowing and still provide usable spaces that people find attractive, as well as better habitats for plants, birds and bugs. Lawns are prone to erosion, but the new plantings could also help with urban stormwater issues.
Between 15 and 20 per cent of Auckland is grassland, which includes verges, backyards, lawns and parklands, Burns said.
Studies in Australia found cut grass releases chemical compounds – ‘‘the freshly cut grass smell’’ – that interact with other air pollutants and worsen smog.
Lawnmower emissions could also be responsible for 5-10 per cent of engine pollution in urban environments.
‘‘We seem to be stuck in a onesize-fits-all mentality, that everything needs to be close-cropped grass,’’ Burns said. ‘‘There’s a whole range of alternatives for our landscape that could reduce environmental costs and provide a range of other benefits. Let’s experiment.’’
Auckland Botanic Gardens curator Rebecca Stanley, who was working on its ‘‘no mow ecosystems’’, said no ecologist would support mowing lawns.
‘‘To get a perfect lawn you need to water it, which is a waste of resources, you need to fertilise it, which is a pollutant, you need to use fungicides and herbicides and insecticides. Some people even kill worms in the soil before they plant a lawn so that wormholes don’t appear,’’ Stanley said.
‘‘To me every one of those things is a complete environmental disaster.’’
The Botanic Gardens’ vision is taking root in suburbia. Lynn Ryder moved to the Auckland suburb of Ellerslie five years ago and planted a wildflower ‘‘mini meadow’’ out in front of her home to feed bees, because she liked flowers and it required less mowing.
‘‘I would love to see more people planting more wild flowers,’’ Ryder said. ‘‘But you do have to maintain it. It doesn’t last for very long unless you keep layering it and keep planting. It’s not as if you don’t have to do anything with it.’’
That’s part of the reason why the defenders of our lawns the tradition is thriving.
Jim Penman, founder of Jim’s Mowing, one of the world’s biggest lawnmowing franchises, said demand for neat greenery was still rising.
In the past year Jim’s Mowing had 10,000 new New Zealand customers. Another 5000 were turned down because there were not enough franchises to cope with the demand, he said.
Most people weren’t aware of the environmental issues around lawns, or they just didn’t care, he added.
Ecologist Colin Meurk, of Crown research institute Landcare, said too much herbicide was being used on lawns and we should instead be growing selfsustaining shrublands or forests.
‘‘We create a problem for ourselves when we fertilise, water and herbicide our lawns – we then have to mow them more frequently,’’ Meurk said.
‘‘If we let them run down and become less fertile they would be more interesting in terms of wild flowers, both native and exotic, and they wouldn’t require such frequent mowing.’’
AUT history professor Paul Moon said manicured lawns originated from the rural to urban drift, when newcomers to the city attempted to psychologically bring the farm with them. ‘‘It’s there almost as an echo from a nostalgic past,’’ he said.
But romantic as wildflower meadow verges sound, he was not convinced they would catch on.
‘‘They’ll discover there’s a lot of work, off-seasons, dealing with weeds. After a year or so they’ll discover it’s not all roses.’’ insist
A fine carpet of green grass stamps the inhabitants as good neighbours, as desirable citizens. Abraham Levitt, 1948
To get a perfect lawn you need to water it, which is a waste of resources, you need to fertilise it, which is a pollutant. Rebecca Stanley, Auckland Botanic Gardens curator