I’m not going to lie, I have some apprehension touching this topic because so many folks online these days seem to be anti… well, anti-lots-of-things… including lawns. But I thought I would spend a little time talking about why it is important to acknowledge the ecological, social, and dare-I-say economic benefits of having a lawn space on your property.
To start with a short story, I am currently reading a wonderfully interesting book called “Bringing Nature Home,” by Douglas Tallamy, about the importance of incorporating native trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses into your landscaping to support native insects and animals that have evolved over millions of years to live symbiotically. The book is a great resource; it’s well-written and I will be using several suggestions from the book to design and modify plantings on my property to incorporate some of the wisdom it contains. In fact, I agree with several of the major tenants of the book, chief among them being: we, collectively, need to do a better job of caring for and incorporating native plants into our urban environments.
That said, there was one repeated phrase in the book that, as a sod farmer, made me cringe. The author wrote that he wanted to encourage people to move away from “sterile lawns.” More and more these days I feel as if I see or hear references to lawns having little to no benefit for humanity.
My first thought when I read Tallamy’s suggestion that grass lawns do not provide any benefit was to bristle. (Of course, it was! I’m a sod farmer!) Plants play an essential role in the success, comfort, health, and social well-being of millions of people, particularly in urban/suburban environments. Grasses are some of the most efficient plants on Earth. 4 of the 5 top food crops in the world are grasses, and they provide over 90% of the world’s calories. These efficiencies make grasses the ideal choice for lawns where they produce fresh oxygen, capture carbon, cool our homes, capture rainfall, reduce stormflow, protect watersheds and filter urban pollutants.
Lawn grasses provide families with affordable access to greenery and children a place to play that other landscapes simply cannot.
So being a glutton for punishment, or maybe just wildly foolish, I thought I would share some of the benefits and research that suggests lawns might, in fact, be a helpful tool for many reasons, such as cooling urban environments, reducing noise pollution, keeping humans safe and healthy, improving our mental health, filtering water, protecting soils, generating O2 and sequestering CO2. In short, plants do cool things for us.
Green Spaces in Cities, Mental Health BENEFITS, and Property Values
I suspect at some point in life most of us have felt that refreshing feeling of soft, cool natural grass beneath our feet. For many people, it brings back memories of childhood and playing outdoors, sprinklers, playing fetch, or maybe having a relaxing picnic in a park. Is it really just a nostalgic feeling of emotion or is there more to it than just that?
Green rooftops in London (as seen from St. Paul’s Cathedral). These green spaces will aid in oxygen production, CO2 sequestration, water absorption and urban heat bubble reduction - it will also reduce the need for air conditioning or heat inside the building.
One of my favorite recent studies was recently featured on NPR’s ‘Hidden Brain’ segment. (My friends will know I foster a bit of an intellectual crush on host, Shankar Vedantam. He’s dreamy.) To listen to the entire podcast, click here. In this episode, researcher, Ming Kuo, describes the effects of green spaces on mental health, crime rates, and relationships with neighbors. She found significant evidence that intentionally including lawn space and trees in urban planning saw a long-term decrease in crime in areas and an overall increase in feelings of camaraderie among neighbors who used their green spaces.
One recent study evaluated vacant lots in an urban U.S. city and posed the question, “Does greening vacant land reduce self-reported poor mental health and feelings of depression?” The results showed that when these vacant lots incorporated greenery, the number of people who reported feelings of depression or poor mental health was reduced by 41% and 62% respectively. These significant improvements indicate green space is important and can be a valuable tool in improving mental health and increasing one’s sense of value.
In addition to green spaces improving a person’s mood, they also increase the perceived value of spaces. A recent study by Dr. Bridget Behe from MSU showed potential homebuyers perceived the actual value of a home to be between 5% and 11% higher because of well-designed and cared-for landscaping (including the lawn). Honestly, I think most people would be hard-pressed to think something as affordable as maintaining a lawn has this kind of financial payoff in home equity.
Another recent study investigated the effects of gardening on the happiness of urban residents. This study compared gardening to 15 daily activities, such as cycling, walking, eating out, shopping, and others. It developed a protocol for measuring the emotional well-being (EWB) reported during household gardening and compared it with the measured EWB of these other activities. The results indicate urban gardening ranked in the top 5 of the 15 activities assessed and are no different than cycling, walking, and eating out among the three measures of emotional well-being that were assessed.
The positive impacts of green spaces, including lawns, have long been something many people have experienced but have also taken for granted. We all have memories of picnics, BBQs, chasing fireflies, running with friends, talking with neighbors, teaching our children to play catch, and chasing the dog who stole a toy and won’t give it back… These are all things that improve our quality of life and cannot be done in a lettuce patch (even though I hope all of us have lettuce patches because those are important, too).
Home lawns and gardens offer places of respite, activity, and fellowship that are simply not as available without grasses. After a time of intense isolation for many of us, I think we can all agree we could use a little more fellowship in green spaces now more than ever.
Ecosystem Services OF LAWNS
Realistically, there are very few ground covers in the world that stand up well to being trafficked by people, pets, and even lighter equipment, while thriving and adding value to the surrounding ecosystem. As a thought exercise ask yourself, if I wanted a place to throw a ball for my dog that had a different ground cover, what would it be? Mulch? (Think splinters, washouts, and soil runoff.) Plastic grass? (Think extreme heat, plastic pollution, and landfill debris), Flowers? (Think of the muddy mess of paws that will be coming back into the house…) Modern grasses (the decedents of grasses that were ideal for grazing), with their fibrous root systems and soft leaves, really have evolved to be ideal candidates for our basic lawn/urban green space needs.
In recent years there has been increased attention to an area of study in horticulture called “Ecosystem Services.” In essence, ecosystem services refer to the many benefits humans freely gain from healthy ecosystems, thriving plants, and the natural environment. These benefits can include things like pollination of plants from insects, nutrient cycling, oxygen production, capturing of particulates from the air, protection from wildfires, and more.
In urban and suburban settings, these ecosystem services are constantly being provided by all-natural areas, including landscapes and lawns. Grasses are incredibly efficient plants that capture carbon dioxide, produce fresh oxygen (a 5,000 sq/ft area of lawn produces enough O2 for 15 people a day in our neck of the woods!), remediate disturbed soils, cool the air around hardscapes (like driveways, roads, parking lots, and sidewalks), capture storm runoff, filter water, and provide a habitat for countless soil-dwelling arthropods and micro-organisms. If you have ever laid on your lawn for any amount of time, you know all kinds of insect and animal activity is happening all around you (and maybe even on you).
One of the main benefits of green plants is that they cool the surrounding area, including our homes. On average, a lawn will be 25 degrees cooler than the air temperature. So on an 85-degree summer day, your lawn is holding a surface temperature closer to 60 degrees. This has a significant impact on the amount of reflected heat your home would be absorbing (and trying to cool with your air conditioner). By contrast, your driveway will be over 100 degrees, on average. And, perhaps most surprisingly, an artificial athletic field can be up to 160 degrees at surface level on an 85-degree day (this is why the NFL has strict guidelines for temperature and practice conditions for their athletes). For some cool visual information on urban heat bubbles, check out this fun example of Chicago on NASA’s website here.
Here in Iowa, we are the beneficiaries of millions of years of grassland coverage on our soils - producing unmatched organic material and capturing particulates from the air, enriching the soils below while also protecting human and animal residents from massive erosion events like dust bowls. In fact, every time you mow your lawn you are participating in the generation of future organic material on your property (which is why you shouldn’t bag your clippings and should aerate your lawns regularly to encourage healthy biological activity in the soil).
The fine leaf texture and dense ground cover of grasses mean lots of leaf surface area for carbon uptake and evaporative cooling. The fibrous root systems and various stem tissues of grasses are extremely effective at depositing atmospheric carbon dioxide into the soil. Want visible proof of this? Look no further than the subsoil in lawns and you can see the dark layer of organic matter on top of the mineral soil. This is visible evidence of carbon deposition, and the depth of this layer increases with time.
The dense cover, fibrous root system, stem tissue, and thatch layer of lawns also effectively serve as a blanket, protecting not only the soil beneath from erosion but also the arthropods and micro-organisms that thrive beneath our feet.
Research on the rainfall capture and runoff reduction potential shows grasses are some of the most effective plant species for protecting disturbed topsoil and nearby watersheds. Lawns create hydraulic resistance to lateral water flow, which increases surface residence time and infiltration into the soil, thereby reducing runoff velocity and amount. To put it simply, grasses help slow down water more effectively than any other ground cover so more water soaks into the places that need it. You have probably noticed this phenomenon yourself if you have ever seen a mulched area after heavy rain. The mulch (and soil underneath) are often washed away, while any soils covered in grass protection have weathered the storm (pun intended) in place.
Perennial grass species, even when managed, are far from sterile. Lawns support a diverse fauna of arthropods including herbivores, natural enemies, and decomposers. Looking even further, the soil microbiome is made up of a complex network of micro-organisms including bacteria, fungi, and single-celled organisms, and recent research has shown grass lawns enhance soil microbial diversity when compared to bare soil. These micro-organisms are vital to soil health and sustainability and are supported by the high carbon sequestration rates of the grass they flourish under.
That said, should the entire world be covered in only grasses? No, of course not! I would give the same answer if the question was about corn, maple trees, onions, hostas, or seaweed. Lawns are a vital and beneficial tool in our property tool belt. It is important to remember all the benefits that living, breathing plants of all shapes and sizes contribute to our communities.
That said, do we humans need to do a better job of designing, feeding, and caring for our urban spaces to foster food and habitats for our creepy crawly (and furry and feathered) friends, as well as providing spaces for our children to run and play, our dogs to fetch, our neighbors to gather, and our picnics to take place? Yes. Yes, we do.
To sum up, are lawns evil? No.
As a sod farmer, I don’t believe anyone in our industry thinks lawns are some magical “silver bullet” for all of our environmental problems. I would suggest, for example, that we all do a better job in supporting lots of types of nature in our urban spaces. In my opinion, we the people, as we Americans like to say, need to be more engaged (and more tolerant) with diversifying our properties to meet the needs of both our families and our local fauna, myself included.
So WHat about native plants? SHouldn’t we just completely switch to native plants!?
Grasses in downtown Des Moines
Those are great questions.
To be clear, we completely support the idea of incorporating diverse plants into landscaping and property design. We also believe it is important to use the right plant in the right place. This means we need to think long and hard about the environments we are asking these plants to thrive in. Take a look at this photo of downtown Des Moines. Would a plant that evolved to thrive in a rainforest survive here? Maybe. But it would take a lot of work to protect it from our winters and other pressures it wouldn’t be suited to endure. To zoom in a little closer, would a plant that thrived in Iowa 500 years ago do well in this environment? It might do ok, but it likely will take more effort than we realize to help it succeed in a concrete environment like this one.
It is important to acknowledge humanity has created urban environments where many native plants are in no way adapted to thrive. Take a look at the plant taxonomy chart below. There are over 330,000 species of plants in the world (about 12,000 of them are grasses). Humans didn’t simply throw a dart at a board and say “Hmmm… I guess we’re going to use grasses a bunch!” Grasses excel as a species because of their unique efficiencies (4 of the 5 top food-producing plants in the world are grasses!), their fibrous root systems, their dense ground cover, their high carbon sequestration rates, and their ability to self-repair. In short, there really isn’t another species that will provide all of the benefits grasses do in as efficient and durable of a way, simply because of the way grasses evolved.
Why not use plants that can have a positive impact on animals, people, and the environment that can thrive in these spaces with minimal maintenance and chemical applications, rather than try to force ill-suited plants to perform in a concrete habitat?
How Can I Diversify The Plants On My Property Successfully?
Ready for the next steps? Talk to your local garden centers and tree nurseries about native plants that can help support wildlife populations throughout the year. Accept that it is ok for bugs to eat certain plants on your property; opt for native plants when you can but acknowledge that you may need to put some more work into maintaining them compared to newer varieties or hybrids. Be tolerant of the messes fruit or nut plants can leave behind because it is helping to feed animals (and maybe people too). Put up birdhouses, bug houses, and feeders. Hang bat and owl houses. Plant a veggie garden or some berry bushes. Donate what you don’t use. The nice thing about owning a home is that it gives us a chance to give back in our own unique ways to both nature and our communities. Get creative.
Not ready to put in a veggie patch this year? Don’t worry, there are still things you can do to support ecosystems positively with your lawn. I implore you to feed your lawns responsibly. Soil sample. We can use this information to build a custom feeding program to ensure efficient, effective, and responsible feeding strategies.
All kinds of green spaces do all kinds of good things for our bodies, minds, and communities; we need to collectively take the next step of actively making choices that support all kinds of life and habitats for generations to come. The good news is that lawns can help.