Eco-Lawn - Is The Grass Really Greener on the Other Side?
I had an e-mail exchange with Franke James earlier this week and she happened to mention that she had enjoyed my post about ‘Water-Smart Gardening‘ and was wondering if I could recommend any drought-resistant grass species.
Franke recently went to battle with the city of North York when she discovered that building a permeable ‘green driveway’ was not permitted in the city. She gained a lot of publicity thanks to Toronto newspapers and news programs (as well as a post on Treehugger), and thankfully was eventually given the green light. For the full story, be sure to check out the post on her blog:
How my Eco-friendly Driveway got the Green Light from City Hall
Well now that her battle is behind her, Franke is looking for a suitable grass species for the PermaTurf® system she will be installing (or has already installed). Not being a huge fan of grass in general, unfortunately I did not have an answer for her off the top of my head, but I decided to see what I could find online. Aside from wanting to help out a friend, I knew there would be plenty of other people interested in learning more about this subject.
It didn’t take me long before I came across the mention a product called “Eco-Lawn”. With my curiosity piqued sufficiently I decided to learn as much about the product as I could.
Eco-Lawn was developed by Paul Jenkins and Miriam Goldberger of Wildflower Farm Inc., a native plant nursery and natural landscaping company located in Schomberg Ontario (~ 1/2 hour north of Toronto). Having heard that fescue grasses had a reputation for high performance with low maintenance, they decided to start experimenting with various fescue species. Eventually they hit upon a blend that offered all the beneficial qualities of fescue grass, while still providing the aesthetic appeal of a ‘normal’ lawn.
After a few years of successful testing, they decided to begin marketing their blend under the name “Eco-Lawn”. The rest is of course history!
Some of the Benefits Listed on the Eco-Lawn page:
- Drought tolerant
- No fertlizers/chemicals required
- Grows in full sun, part shade, and even deep shade
- Less vulnerable to grubs
- Reduced mowing requirements
I highly recommend you check out this video interview with Miriam Goldberger: Eco-Lawn
Unfortunately I don’t have any personal experience using Eco-Lawn, so I’d definitely be interested to hear from anyone who has in fact tried this grass.
Also, if you happen to know of any other drought-resist grass species, or interesting lawn alternatives in general, please let us know! This is a really interesting topic, and something I’d like to revisit again in the near future.
Related Sherpa Posts:
Water-Smart Gardening
Green Options For Your Driveway
Technorati Tags: eco-lawn, drought, lawn, grass, fescue, lawn care, xeriscaping, franke james, wildflower farm, lawn alternatives
Written by Bentley on June 29th, 2007 with
4 comments.
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Bentley
Billy Lo
Mike Drainie
#1. August 3rd, 2007, at 5:28 PM.
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area (East Bay) and hope to try an eco-lawn to avoid the expense and waste of installing irrigation. Also you are said to have to mow much less frequently. Would be very interested in any actual user reviews. Thanks.