Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
For nature’s sake, stay off the grass
Cities promote alternative lawns to help save water
Replace your lawn with seashells, and you’ll never mow again.
That’s becoming an option as more cities in South Florida let homeowners replace the traditional grass lawn with alternatives such as plants, tumbled glass and seashells.
The goal is to conserve water in a booming region that’s bound to demand more of it.
In Hollywood, you now can have spiky, flowering tropical shrubs, such as bromeliads, coupled with inorganic materials such as tumbled glass and washed seashell mulch. The city wants residents to embrace the options available from living in South Florida that likely will be easier to maintain than traditional turf grass.
“We live in a tropical, horticultural paradise,” said Dale Bryant, the city of Hollywood’s first landscape architect. “There are a lot of great species that are acclimated to our climate.”
Many cities don’t fine homeowners for their greenery, or lack thereof, unless the grass grows too high or the vegetation presents a hazard in terms of attracting pests or blocking sight lines. Local governments stay largely silent on the topic of a lawn’s appearance, leaving homeowner associations to get more specific for a uniform look.
But Deerfield Beach is looking to spruce things up, giving residents more specifics and options for achieving the desired look. Not complying could draw the ire of code enforcement and result in fines.
In the coming days, the city plans to adopt Florida-friendly lawn practices, which were compiled by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. The institute has created an online interactive database, floridayards.org, tailored to each region of the state.
These principles give residents “no-mow,”
drought-friendly options other than thirsty St. Augustine blades that long have permeated the Florida landscape. Deerfield residents can choose from among perennial peanut, blue daze, Algerian ivy and mondo grass, for example.
“It’s the most sound landscaping practices for conserving resources and maintaining and improving the aesthetic qualities of Deerfield Beach,” City Commissioner Todd Drosky said of the changes.
Dania Beach also has revised its landscaping rules to include droughtfriendly plants. Nothing short of preserving a vital natural resource, water, is at stake, state officials say.
About 30 percent to 50 percent of the fresh-water supply goes toward outdoor irrigation in Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to the South Florida Water Management District.
The water district hopes that as the region’s population keeps increasing, water consumption stays about the same. “That’s contingent on prudent management, including increased water conservation,” said Mark Elsner, the district’s water-supply manager.
Some of the new options call for lawns that require little watering beyond what the heavens provide in rain.
Bryant, who was hired as Hollywood’s first city landscape architect in 2013, has his own laboratory in his backyard for what works in these climes with different levels of sunlight, so he can offer definitive options to city residents.
His Korean velvet grass, also known as Zoysia tenuifolia, for example, is growing in his yard’s deeply shaded areas. It also tolerates drought, crowds out the undesirables, and seldom requires mowing.
“My yard was getting some crabgrass and noxious weed, but instead of treating it with herbicide, the Zoysia crept back and now, with the rain, it’s as green as ever,” he said.
Bryant says the city of Hollywood, planning new rules, is testing some changes that would allow a higher percentage of inorganic and maybe even artificial grass. “We’re seeing what works and what doesn’t,” he said.
But before the city enacts the rules, it already is evaluating homeowners’ lawns on a case-by-case basis and sometimes allowing a looser interpretation of codes.
On Friday, while touring the city, Bryant pointed to one homeowner’s yard he said was a model example. It has colored rocks with some plant accents. One large clay pot is tipped over and dark rocks are set up so it looks as if water is pouring out.
Deerfield is taking one different approach: It will ban xeriscaping, a type of landscaping that reduces the need for water by adding rocks and wood chips in place of grass.
Sod now will be required, but not necessarily the traditional St. Augustine grass. The rules still will aim to preserve resources by allowing grasses that need less water, less fertilizing and less mowing.
It means that Commissioner Gloria Battle, who dug up her lawn and replaced it with wood chips two years ago, will be choosing from a new menu of grasses.
That’s fine, she says. She found the xeriscaping in her yard had drawbacks. “When you use wood chips, you set yourself up for termites,” she said. Of the new possibilities, she said, “It’s giving me more flexibility.”