As urban areas continue to grow throughout the United States, a pressing need has arisen to not only provide safe outdoor recreation spaces with visual appeal, but also improve environmental outcomes including cleaner water, cleaner air, and more biological diversity. A team of WSU researchers led by Kate Kraszewski set out to find which types of landscapes can best achieve these goals in their research paper “Greening Urban and Residential Spaces: Enhancing Performance Objectives through Landscaping in a Changing World,” published in 2024.
Over a twelve month period, eight different lawn typologies were studied, including: All Garden, All Lawn, Lawn Garden Combination, Synthetic Turf, Xeriscaping, Clover, Soil, and No Maintenance (Weeds). This post will focus on the highlights of the All Lawn typology.
A yard consisting entirely of grass has many upsides. If you are the type of person that is attracted to simple, neat, and manicured lawns, this is definitely the option for you! An all grass yard can be easier to maintain and provide great curbside appeal.
One of the biggest benefits of this typology is all the recreational space it provides! Kids, pets, and even adults are sure to enjoy the wide open space in your yard for all sorts of games and activities. Grass also gives more than other surfaces, so if someone trips or falls, the grass and soil underneath will act as a shock absorber, reducing the likelihood of injury.
Grass also offers a number of environmental benefits, such as cooling the air around your home. This makes your yard more safe and comfortable for your family and the wildlife that come to visit. Lawns also allow water to infiltrate into the soil. This not only filters and cleans the water, but prevents runoff that can lead to erosion and polluted water resources. Providing fresh air to your community by absorbing carbon and producing oxygen is another benefit of grass. It also serves as habitat and food for insects which can attract birds and other animals, providing fun opportunities for viewing wildlife.
Even though grass provides many benefits to people and the environment, there are a few downsides to the All Lawn typology. For instance, the shallow root system of grass only moderately assists water infiltration. Plants that have deeper root systems do a better job of helping water infiltrate the soil more quickly to recharge soil moisture and our ground water resources. Additionally, grass by itself does not provide much biological diversity to optimally support soil and wildlife health. For this, we need to incorporate other types of vegetation and habitat into our yards. This is a different typology that we’ll talk about next time, so stay tuned!
Check out our Lawn Care Playbook to learn how you can prepare your best lawn this spring!
Comments