The American Obsession with Lawns

[lordsummerisle]

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/the-american-obsession-with-lawns/

Warmer weather in the northern states means more time outside, and more time to garden. While urban gardeners may be planning their container gardens, in the suburbs, homeowners are thinking about their lawns. It’s the time of year when the buzz of landscaping equipment begins to fill the air, and people begin to scrutinize their curb appeal.

The goal—as confirmed by the efforts of Abraham Levitt in his sweeping exercise in conformity (although it had been established well before that)—is to attain a patch of green grass of a singular type with no weeds that is attached to your home. It should be no more than an inch and a half tall, and neatly edged. This means you must be willing to care for it. It must be watered, mowed, repaired, and cultivated. Lawns are expensive—and some regard them as boring in their uniformity—but they are a hallmark of homeownership. Why do Americans place so much importance on lawn maintenance?

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. My "lawn" is different green weeds that look fine when mowed...

but we are surrounded by chemical-drenched, perfect lawns.

Neighbors can't eat their grass - but we sure feast on the stuff I grow in my driveway!

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I'm with you. My, almost an acre, is au naturale and mostly weeds.

Have a large patch of moss that I wish would take over the whole lawn. I mow it and hope it will die from heat and drought by mid-July.
All my neighbors except myself and one other have lawn services that drench the grass with chemicals and trim and remove every leaf that dares to fall.

[ObamaDemocrat]

2. This is so true

I have a landscaper and he's already mowed the lawn 4 times so far this year. I live in an upper middle class community of nice homes and I'm Black so I'm not going to be the Black neighbor with the bad lawn. The previous owners of my home did not do a good job of maintaining their lawn and just kept it cut very short so the grass was not healthy. I have spent a lot already on weed and seed and turf builder and fertilizer, etc in order to get my grass to match the healthy greenery of some of my neighbors grass. I have some patches of weeds and brown spots that I want taken care of. I've already seen a difference because I moved in last September and only had the grass cut a few more times before the end of the season, but laid fall and winter stuff down to prepare for spring. But yes, there is an obsession with having a nice lawn. You don't want everyone else's to be nicely manicured and yours is looking like a hot mess sandwich.

[hunter]

7. I'm sorry you have to live in such a place.

The quality of a front lawn has no relationship to social status where I live. Someone with a perfect well irrigated and chemically treated lawn might even be considered a bit selfish and obsessive.

Our next door neighbors just neatened up their front yard. Apparently the only tools the had were an old chainsaw and weedwacker. Love the sound and smell of two-stroke gas engines in the morning... no, I don't.

The first thing my wife and I did when we bought this house was to rip up the front lawn and replace it with drought tolerant stuff. Later, serious droughts here in California inspired others to do the same.

http://www.water.ca.gov/turf/

I'm not terribly fond of some of some neighbor's concrete and other hardscape masterpieces, I prefer plants, but it's preferable to running out of water when the next drought comes along.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Yes! I don't get it, either.

Every house around here has one, some with in ground sprinkler systems. All that work and expense - for grass? I'd much rather see something more natural, flowers and trees.

[Nitram]

5. I replaced 10,000 square feet of lawn with a wildflower and native grasses meadow.

Flowers bloom from April to September. No watering, no fertilizer, mowing once a year to a 6-inch height.

[kristopher]

6. There is one functional advantage to a lawn trimmed short

It reduces habitat for pests and vermin. That probably creates the initial social pressure to not let your property go wild, but it doesn't justify the point we are now. Unfortunately, I believe that's the nature of how functional social memes work.