On the Mowing of Lawns

A gardener's musings

it’s mid-August and I really need to mow my lawn. I have objections to this for a couple of reasons. One, it’s Texas, and in August, sometimes even July and definitely September, that’s the lawn dormancy season. Not winter, like it is further north. No, here it’s the hot, dry season where the grasses wither and brown and nothing is growing. Except this year, it is. We got over three inches of rain this last week, all in one twelve-hour period. Of course, most of that ran right off because our soil here isn’t really absorbent when dry, and still, it was enough that in my garden, where I mulch and add to the soil, it sopped up sufficient to put on a growth spurt.

The lawn in the design gives the eye space to travel to the arched trellis, and beyond.

My other, and more serious, objection to mowing the lawn has to do with the nature of the American lawn. It’s a monoculture, a desert green with vegetation, sure, but little else. Insects and birds who feed on them really aren’t given any support or encouragement (and a lot of lawncare has to do with how to kill what insects do live on a lawn turf environment). Plus, for me, it’s a waste of space I could fill with edible plants, beautiful plants, and those choice specimens which are both. I recently saw those called “edimental” which is a fun portmanteau word I think I will adopt. Edible landscaping is very much my joy and inclination.

However, culturally, the lawn is a sign of, well, social fit. A nice green, tidy lawn makes you a good neighbor, a good citizen, and is acceptable. A riotous tumble of green plants, shrubs, and trees, even when massed with blooms, is looked on askance unless you are very careful and purposeful with how you present it. I try to be. The first line on our list when house-hunting, in all-caps, bold, and underlined, was NO HOA! because I knew what I was going to do would never be acceptable to a community dedicated to keeping up with the Joneses. From the moment I saw the video my friend who looked at the house for us took, I was planning a cottage garden. A challenge, here in Texas. I knew that much, even when I didn’t fully know what I was getting into.

Texas Sage and Lantana (not currently in bloom) both are hardy to the hot, dry conditions of the hellstrip.

There are, actually, good reasons to keep some lawn. I have some which is fit for purpose. The hellstrip, they call it here in the south, the section of grass (and weeds!) between the sidewalk and the street. This area soaks up heat, gets less water and shade than anywhere else in my garden, and most importantly: it’s where a bunch of people park when they come over to visit. My initial plans to put it into native wildflowers like bluebonnets and Blackfoot Daisies were discarded. Instead, I mow it to present a tidy manicured front to the community, with the cottage garden a pleasant contrast rising up from it. In time, I will establish a native turfgrass there - looking at Buffalograss - and have to mow less often.

I also have a very small lawn in the front yard, inside the bounds of the hedgerow garden. This is for design purposes, as it gives the eye a rest when taking in the mad tumble of the garden which surrounds it. It is negative space, in a painting. I have planted what will be a central focal tree, given time, and have discussed a fountain tumbling over rocks which would be shaded by that as a possible addition. My husband likes this idea very much. I do as well, but also construction and maintenance for the future have to be considered.

Both these spaces taken together are a relatively small proportion of the arable land we own. Which means they are somewhat easier to maintain than having to mow everything. The backyard, at this point, is mostly garden with only a narrow strip to mow, the rest I weed-whack when needed. The front lawn areas are about a half-hour with the pushmower, and another forty minutes with the weedwhacker because yes, it’s easier to mow a lawn when it’s all square and you aren’t trying to save some plant which popped up in the middle of it. Like my poppies this spring. I scattered poppy seeds through the flower beds and of those which came up? Three were in the lawn. They probably blew there (most poppy seeds are tiny). When they finished blooming I put seed pods in the gardens, and mowed over the spent plants.

I don’t spray for broad-leaf weeds, or put down the pre-emergent herbicides, because I like weeds. Not all of them. Texas has a lot of angry plants, and I’d like eventually to be able to walk on a soft lawn, barefoot, without picking up burrs. That’s going to take some work! But I love the henbit in January, when my lawn blooms a soft purple and the early pollinators swarm those welcome flowers. I adore the Rain Lilies which pop up a few days after a rain, little white lilies held high on a naked stem. So lovely, so random! There are Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) bulbs under my lawn which were there before I moved in, long naturalized and happy here, which bloom and I mow around them, too. The lawn is part of the garden. As I envisioned the yards, I never foresaw completely eliminating the grass. Just… the bermudagrass, which is nasty terrible stuff. I will be fighting that for a long time, I suspect!

In the meantime, I must manage to mow on a morning soon, before it gets too hot. And I need to go get my buffalo grass seed to start establishing that native. Grass can be native, too!