The mechanical lawn mower was invented in 1830-something, if I'm not mistaken. It would have taken a generation or so to become cheaper, at about 1850-ish for

The mechanical lawn mower was invented in 1830-something, if I'm not mistaken. It would have taken a generation or so to become cheaper, at about 1850-ish for the earliest widely-available, manure-free, close-cropped grass lawns. So I'd put that as the advent of tennis and dedicated golf courses, among other lawn games. Checking Internet... mechanical lawnmower 1830 exactly, tennis invented between 1859 and 1865, and Oakhurst Links is the oldest 9-hole golf course in America since 1884. Croquet apparently became popular in the 1860s. So that all checks out. The lawnmower made the lawn. The lawn games and status-associations made them desirable to have. So the lawn is essentially a long-enduring symbol of upper-class lifestyle. Resistance to grass lawn mono-culture is a symbolic rejection of aspirational wealth. People who live in personal fantasy-lands love their symbology; undermining their symbols can reveal the lies behind them. Those folks that reject the lawn are essentially admitting that they will never get rich. Maybe America will finally stop being a land of temporarily embarrassed millionaires, and start being one that eats home-grown dandelion salads when not eating the rich.