7 ms·

I grew up in a suburb where everyone was expected to have their lawns properly manicured and treated to prevent dandelions and other weeds. For about two years

by magpi3 10y ago

I grew up in a suburb where everyone was expected to have their lawns properly manicured and treated to prevent dandelions and other weeds. For about two years recently I lived in an intentional community, and discovered two things. First, untreated lawns are beautiful. Different colors, gorgeous blues and yellows, emerge as different "weeds" take root during different times of year. Now, nothing speaks to me more of the blandness of the suburbs than its staid, boring green lawns. Second, I had NO IDEA that grass reseeded itself if you just let it flower. In fact, I had no idea grass flowered. If parts of your lawn are worn by activity (read children), all you have to do is let it grow and flower and it will "heal" itself. Yes, I know how ignorant I sound. But that's my point. Homogenous, controlled environments breed ignorance. And in more ways than a child's lack of basic understanding of grass as a plant.

ianai 10y ago
You speak to what frustrates me about living in a large city. Everything's been pushed aside and replaced with concrete and asphalt. Driving and walking around this city just feels dismal. The concrete and asphalt make everything feel hard, oppressive, and stinky. The summer heat never leaves. Nor does the litter ever leave. Whereas if there was just a little less concrete and asphalt at least there wouldn't be concrete/asphalt to fall apart. Just maybe there would be plants growing in the excess. In attempting to engineer a city people wound up with less than was there initially.
- oftenwrong 10y ago
  I find that places built for cars tend to be unpleasant. Where people walk more, the urban environment is often kept in a state that is more enjoyable. I especially enjoy narrow streets. a particularly nice, narrow street in my city: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/2b/ea/06/2bea06ff6b629cfd93090cb0d59b3430.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/2b/ea/06/2bea... an article on the benefits of narrow streets: http://www.andrewalexanderprice.com/blog20140422.php http://www.andrewalexanderprice.com/blog20140422.php
  - ianai 10y ago
    Ding ding, I'd prefer to be there.
  - throwaway6556 10y ago
    Where do you live? I've never been to the US so my mental picture of it (which Google Maps seems to confirm) is 99% extremely wide roads, not European-style walkable at all. So I think, I could never move there (I can't drive a car) and places where I wouldn't need a car are to expensive to live in (NY, Washington). Are there many Londons in the US? EDIT: oh, it's Boston.
    - oftenwrong 10y ago
      Yes, it is Boston. Most American cities are sparse and have wide roads and are not compatible with walking as a form of transportation. Boston included. Boston is one of the older cities in the country, so it retains some of the European-style walkability in a select few areas, like Beacon Hill, which is the neighbourhood in the picturesque street photo. There used to be more neighbourhoods like that in American cities, but they were destroyed after the second world war for "urban renewal"/"slum clearance" - to drive out the poor and minorites, and to build car-oriented neighborhoods and highways. The destruction of Boston's old West End neighbourhood is an infamous example: http://www.bostonstreetcars.com/the-west-ends-transformation.html http://www.bostonstreetcars.com/the-west-ends-transformation... Here's before and after of Hastings Street and the surrounding area n Detroit: https://detroitenvironment.lsa.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Hastings-Street-Before-and-After-Small-Article.jpg https://detroitenvironment.lsa.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/... The surviving walkable neighbourhoods like Beacon Hill in Boston and Greenwich Village in New York (which was almost destroyed to build a highway) are now some of the most desired in the country. You would think people would want to build more neighbourhoods like these, but it is actually illegal due to car-friendly zoning codes, and politically impossible, and quite unpopular - car dependence is all many people have ever known, and a dense neighbourhood without copious free parking and wide roads is seen almost as a personal attack on our way of life.
      - 10y ago
- Eric_WVGG 10y ago
  concrete and asphalt isn't so bad in cities that are built for walking
- DougN7 10y ago
  You've perfectly describes why I like living in the subburbs/rurally so much and could never live in the city.
biofox 10y ago
It really depends. In some cases I can understand the local government requiring homeowners to mow their lawn. I saw a similar story in the UK [1] (Photo-only link [2]). There's no way I'd want to be living next door to that. [1] http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/news/hillmorton-garden-horror-provokes-council-crackdown-1-7327727 http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/news/hillmorton-garden-horr... [2] http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/webimage/1.7327726.1460564720!/image/image.jpg http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/webimage/1.7327726.14605647...
- M_Grey 10y ago
  That's not an "untreated lawn", that's a garbage dump; I don't think anyone is defending that.
oftenwrong 10y ago
My mother, who was a gardener/landscaper, kept an untreated yard when I was a child (and still does). I always enjoyed the non-uniformity and fullness of it, in addition to the seasonality. While some neighbours' grass lawns would develop bald patches or dead grass in spots where light and water were not ideal, we would just have a different mix of plants ("weeds") in those areas. Under our trees we would get more shade-loving plants, for example. Every niche is filled in by nature.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
btschaegg 10y ago
I fully agree with you there. I have heard that some people referring to the house I grew up in as "Villa Villekulla", which was - amongst other things - due to the garden surrounding it. On the other hand, I only recognized how incredibly dull it must be to live in some places when I visited northern Belgium and for the first time witnessed whole neighborhoods with the "perfectly trimmed" kind of gardening.

by magpi3 10y ago

ianai 10y ago

You speak to what frustrates me about living in a large city. Everything's been pushed aside and replaced with concrete and asphalt. Driving and walking around this city just feels dismal. The concrete and asphalt make everything feel hard, oppressive, and stinky. The summer heat never leaves. Nor does the litter ever leave. Whereas if there was just a little less concrete and asphalt at least there wouldn't be concrete/asphalt to fall apart. Just maybe there would be plants growing in the excess. In attempting to engineer a city people wound up with less than was there initially.

oftenwrong 10y ago
I find that places built for cars tend to be unpleasant. Where people walk more, the urban environment is often kept in a state that is more enjoyable. I especially enjoy narrow streets. a particularly nice, narrow street in my city: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/2b/ea/06/2bea06ff6b629cfd93090cb0d59b3430.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/2b/ea/06/2bea... an article on the benefits of narrow streets: http://www.andrewalexanderprice.com/blog20140422.php http://www.andrewalexanderprice.com/blog20140422.php
- ianai 10y ago
  Ding ding, I'd prefer to be there.
- throwaway6556 10y ago
  Where do you live? I've never been to the US so my mental picture of it (which Google Maps seems to confirm) is 99% extremely wide roads, not European-style walkable at all. So I think, I could never move there (I can't drive a car) and places where I wouldn't need a car are to expensive to live in (NY, Washington). Are there many Londons in the US? EDIT: oh, it's Boston.
  - oftenwrong 10y ago
    Yes, it is Boston. Most American cities are sparse and have wide roads and are not compatible with walking as a form of transportation. Boston included. Boston is one of the older cities in the country, so it retains some of the European-style walkability in a select few areas, like Beacon Hill, which is the neighbourhood in the picturesque street photo. There used to be more neighbourhoods like that in American cities, but they were destroyed after the second world war for "urban renewal"/"slum clearance" - to drive out the poor and minorites, and to build car-oriented neighborhoods and highways. The destruction of Boston's old West End neighbourhood is an infamous example: http://www.bostonstreetcars.com/the-west-ends-transformation.html http://www.bostonstreetcars.com/the-west-ends-transformation... Here's before and after of Hastings Street and the surrounding area n Detroit: https://detroitenvironment.lsa.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Hastings-Street-Before-and-After-Small-Article.jpg https://detroitenvironment.lsa.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/... The surviving walkable neighbourhoods like Beacon Hill in Boston and Greenwich Village in New York (which was almost destroyed to build a highway) are now some of the most desired in the country. You would think people would want to build more neighbourhoods like these, but it is actually illegal due to car-friendly zoning codes, and politically impossible, and quite unpopular - car dependence is all many people have ever known, and a dense neighbourhood without copious free parking and wide roads is seen almost as a personal attack on our way of life.
    - 10y ago
Eric_WVGG 10y ago
concrete and asphalt isn't so bad in cities that are built for walking
DougN7 10y ago
You've perfectly describes why I like living in the subburbs/rurally so much and could never live in the city.

biofox 10y ago

It really depends. In some cases I can understand the local government requiring homeowners to mow their lawn. I saw a similar story in the UK [1] (Photo-only link [2]). There's no way I'd want to be living next door to that. [1] http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/news/hillmorton-garden-horror-provokes-council-crackdown-1-7327727 http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/news/hillmorton-garden-horr... [2] http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/webimage/1.7327726.1460564720!/image/image.jpg http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/webimage/1.7327726.14605647...

M_Grey 10y ago
That's not an "untreated lawn", that's a garbage dump; I don't think anyone is defending that.

oftenwrong 10y ago

My mother, who was a gardener/landscaper, kept an untreated yard when I was a child (and still does). I always enjoyed the non-uniformity and fullness of it, in addition to the seasonality. While some neighbours' grass lawns would develop bald patches or dead grass in spots where light and water were not ideal, we would just have a different mix of plants ("weeds") in those areas. Under our trees we would get more shade-loving plants, for example. Every niche is filled in by nature.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

btschaegg 10y ago

I fully agree with you there. I have heard that some people referring to the house I grew up in as "Villa Villekulla", which was - amongst other things - due to the garden surrounding it. On the other hand, I only recognized how incredibly dull it must be to live in some places when I visited northern Belgium and for the first time witnessed whole neighborhoods with the "perfectly trimmed" kind of gardening.