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> “Get rid of your lawns,” she said. “Lawns are total biological deserts. It’s just grass with pesticides. The way it’s grown does not support a lot of biodiver

> “Get rid of your lawns,” she said. “Lawns are total biological deserts. It’s just grass with pesticides. The way it’s grown does not support a lot of biodiversity.” > Instead, plant native flowers that provide nectar and pollen for pollinators, Berenbaum said. I see this a lot recently where I live in Germany, but at the same time I see the opposite as well. Lawn replaced by gravel, often pitch black one. I don't mean that people replace their lawn with parking lots, I mean nice green front gardens turn into minimalist charcoal stone gardens. It has its appeal but not if it is overdone. Is it good for insects? I don't know, certainly not for the flying ones.

michaelgrafl 7y ago
I see similiar things in Austria. I'm pretty shure it's a mainstream trend that plays into people's urge to take control over nature and remove all rogue elements from their lawns and will be replaced by whatever trend the industry comes up when the market is saturated. My wife and I feel like we are being looked down on by some of our neighbors because we only maw our lawn twice a year and don't use store bought fertilizer or any pesticides. Before our neighbors gave up on us they would tell us a lot about having to get rid of all stinging nettles (especially after getting children!) and the need for yearly scarifying the grass area (which we are actually trying to turn into a rough pasture) and cutting every bush down to a single twig every year so it wouldn't get out of control. The good news is, if you talk to those people about your own rationale, they sometimes tend to soften their position or even change it completely and relax themselves a bit. Personally I can't wait the day I can sit outside during spring or summer and not be surrounded by the constant buzz of lawnmowers.
stinos 7y ago
Trends like this are essentially like fashion, but applied to gardens (well, the area around your house, I guess at one point it stops being qualified as 'garden'). I.e. pushed by industry/magazines/..., copied by people seeing other people doing it etc. Usually goes in cycles so in a couple of years it might be different again. Hopefully not lawns again, but actually I don't see it impossible that just like in fashion, what is now sort of subculture becomes mainstream and gets adopted by the masses and we'll get a ton of wild gardens.
Nasrudith 7y ago
I think that is more about water usage in their original context but the kind of people who do it for fashion cargo-cult it as I don't believe Germany has desert biomes and are more likely in a "keep sonething green there for drainage" territory.
brixon 7y ago
The stone gardens are more about reducing water use at least in the south west desert areas of the US.
biztos 7y ago
I'm not against native flowers, but I would point out that my mother's lawn in Northern California has not even smelled a pesticide since at least 1975, and while I'm sure it could be more bug-friendly it's hardly a desert. Plenty of things creep and crawl in the lawn. Maybe there's more diversity in types of lawns than the anti-lawn crowd like to consider?

michaelgrafl 7y ago

I see similiar things in Austria. I'm pretty shure it's a mainstream trend that plays into people's urge to take control over nature and remove all rogue elements from their lawns and will be replaced by whatever trend the industry comes up when the market is saturated. My wife and I feel like we are being looked down on by some of our neighbors because we only maw our lawn twice a year and don't use store bought fertilizer or any pesticides. Before our neighbors gave up on us they would tell us a lot about having to get rid of all stinging nettles (especially after getting children!) and the need for yearly scarifying the grass area (which we are actually trying to turn into a rough pasture) and cutting every bush down to a single twig every year so it wouldn't get out of control. The good news is, if you talk to those people about your own rationale, they sometimes tend to soften their position or even change it completely and relax themselves a bit. Personally I can't wait the day I can sit outside during spring or summer and not be surrounded by the constant buzz of lawnmowers.

stinos 7y ago

Trends like this are essentially like fashion, but applied to gardens (well, the area around your house, I guess at one point it stops being qualified as 'garden'). I.e. pushed by industry/magazines/..., copied by people seeing other people doing it etc. Usually goes in cycles so in a couple of years it might be different again. Hopefully not lawns again, but actually I don't see it impossible that just like in fashion, what is now sort of subculture becomes mainstream and gets adopted by the masses and we'll get a ton of wild gardens.

Nasrudith 7y ago

I think that is more about water usage in their original context but the kind of people who do it for fashion cargo-cult it as I don't believe Germany has desert biomes and are more likely in a "keep sonething green there for drainage" territory.

brixon 7y ago

The stone gardens are more about reducing water use at least in the south west desert areas of the US.

biztos 7y ago

I'm not against native flowers, but I would point out that my mother's lawn in Northern California has not even smelled a pesticide since at least 1975, and while I'm sure it could be more bug-friendly it's hardly a desert. Plenty of things creep and crawl in the lawn. Maybe there's more diversity in types of lawns than the anti-lawn crowd like to consider?