Changing Our Sense of Aesthetics in Honor of Earth Day
I was so happy to see the following article in The New York Times yesterday:
The Dandelion King
By ROBERT WRIGHT
April 20, 2010
Wild, weedy lawns are greener, but can we consider them prettier, too?
The unkept look of my lawn is just a byproduct of a conclusion I reached a few years ago: the war on weeds, though not unwinnable, isn’t winnable at a morally acceptable cost.
We're not planning to buy a home in the foreseeable future, but one of the things we have talked about regarding home ownership is that we want a low or no-maintenance lawn. The event that sparked this discussion was a trip to Arizona in which we marveled at the folks who insisted on green grass in their yards. In the desert? Really? And then there was our trip to southern Utah, a most deserty desert, where you'll still find a golf course or four if you need one. What?
I've never understood why we insist on altering the state of nature, even in areas where it really does not matter. If you've got small kids, then yes, I see the appeal of a trimmed section of lawn for rolling beach balls and learning to walk. But who cares if that lawn includes a mix of grasses and dandelions? Why is tall grass considered ugly in the suburbs and beautiful in the prairies? These aesthetic choices we've made as a society are often arbitrary. And the fact that having tall grass or dandelions in the front yard affects property values is a flaw in the system, not in the yard.
Long live the dandelion!
1 comments:
Boo on the dandelion! Okay, not so much the dandelion, but on the other weeds in our lawn -- specifically, the ones with sharp pointy bits like thistles which injure little hands and feet, and cause scratches and rashes and hives...
And living next to a conservation area, I have some rude gestures for anyone who says that they can be controlled by pulling them. Or, better yet, let THEM come do it.
Nothing will ever convince me that weed killer is a bad thing.
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