Home Landscaping
(Page 6 of 10)
August/September 1999
By Mort Mather
Ground Cover
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Next we move to ground level and the two dimensions of the paper plot. Remember that I consider myself to be a lazy gardener. The laziest ground cover is to leave it natural. No matter what the soil surface, something will grow there. That something as provided by nature will probably be a combination of plants, grasses, weeds, maybe moss, mushrooms, whatever. The natural ground cover can be changed into a lawn relatively quickly with regular mowing, or it can be changed somewhat slowly by mowing once or twice a year. But consider it in its natural state before doing anything much.
Unmowed natural cover comes to within four feet of one side of our house. Admittedly it is the back of the house, but it is right outside the windows we look out most often. It is also the view presented to our guests. When we sit outside, we sit on lawn within four feet of unkempt natural cover.
Our wild garden provides us with year-round pleasure. We have planted daffodils on the near bank and a patch of irises a bit farther away. These plantings don't need any attention. Had the daffodils been planted in a bed, we would have to cultivate, and if in the lawn, we'd have to mow around them. In the wild they provide us with a dazzling patch of yellow before the first dandelions. When the flowers are gone, the leaves compete well with the surrounding grasses and weeds and continue to gather enough sunlight to keep healthy.
The wildflowers grow and change through the summer, and when the grasses go to seed they provide more beautiful, delicate shapes and colors to contrast with the deep greens behind them. Queen Anne's lace is one of the more prolific flowers. Sometimes we ignore a perfectly beautiful wild thing because it is so common. Look closely at Queen Anne's lace. Is it not as beautiful as any snowflake? Birds eat the seeds and in winter the dried blossoms pile up with snow and appear a fairy wonderland.
Suffice it to say that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. If you have not already beheld the beauties of which I wax, I urge you to train your eye on some of the things in your everyday life that you currently take for granted.
Deep-green, single-species, closely cropped lawns are an environmental disaster. In fact, the more cared for the lawn, the bigger the disaster. Consider that every year more chemicals are put on lawns per acre than on agricultural fields. These poisons are frequently applied excessively and during times when they are most environmentally damaging. Often, there is little or no regard for need. Pesticides are applied where kids and pets play. You really don't want to be a part of this problem.
My lawn has had no care of any kind for over 20 years aside from mowing; I even leave the grass clippings where they fall. There is some ground ivy, pretty little purple flowers in spring and several varieties of grass growing all season long. There is also a patch of hawkweed, another yellow flower that blooms in mid-summer. In a hot, dry August, my lawn is green when others are brown, though the growth does slow in dry weather. There are times when it may get a little brown, but I never water it.
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