Odd and Unnatural? In Favor, I Think...

I've been preoccupied with the idea of artificial turf for quite a while now, and I'm not sure if I've completely sorted out my thoughts yet.  But here goes.

Victor's photo of newly installed synthetic grass

Recently my friend Victor had artificial grass installed in front of his family-owned nursery Plants For All Seasons.  When I first saw the pictures, I was surprised -- it looked exactly like beautiful, healthy turf.  The local SYNLawn distributor, Strickly Green Grass, installed it as a demonstration piece, using two different kinds in two different areas.

My snooty initial reaction?  I turned up my nose.  Who in their right mind would install artificial grass in their garden?  Why, that's as bad as those hanging baskets of red silk geraniums!  Right?!?

The same grass, several weeks later

Then I got to thinking a little bit more.  Victor believes that water conservation will drive installation of synthetic grass, and that's a pretty serious topic.  Even here, where we generally get more than 50" of rain per year, ground water supplies are limited.  We don't pay even a fraction of what our water's really worth.  So I had to ask myself what my problem really was.

Because I myself have criticized the Texas lawn culture and deplored the incredible amount of water applied to turfgrasses.  (Which is generally far in excess of what the grass actually needs, but that's for another blog.)  I have shaken my head at carpets of grass verging on 4 inches thick, the product of overfertilization, followed by overwatering, and then the application of fungicides to combat disease induced by overfeeding and overwatering.  And I had to ask myself this question: Which is worse, synthetic grass or grass kept perfectly green by such extremely artificial measures?

Looks pretty natural to me...

My own lawn is rarely watered.  I allow it to turn brown during times of drought, and it generally recovers.  It is properly dormant in the winter and I fertilize once or twice a year, well after the weather warms up.  It is mowed once a week almost all year long, though the winter mowings usually just provide me with shredded leaves for the compost pile.  An acceptable, but far from perfect lawn: that's my own preference.

For those compelled to have bright green grass, all summer and all winter long, perhaps synthetic turf is the answer.  I think it's odd and unnatural and I wonder what the heck it's made of.  But it bothers me less than lawns that have been fertilized, watered, and treated to within an inch of their lives.  And I've always been very supportive of the gardener's right to do odd things in the garden.  So if you install synthetic grass in your front yard, I may chuckle about it.  But I'll fight by your side when the Homeowner's Association comes to get you.

You can read about Victor's synthetic grass installation in his blog, The Dirt.