Letters to the Editor: Let your lawn die, but don’t plant natives just yet
Posted: Wednesday, November 13, 2011
I grew up on a farm and raised horses (now retired) and my family has known for years that grass does not do well in the city with the high heat and dry air. We also do not want to see the return of a fire- and drought-prone drought country where grass is a rarity.
Rural areas like mine have been a hotbed of grass-growing. We have never done anything but grow grass, never saw the need to replace our lawn, until the city took up lawns in the 90s. By then there was no excuse not to replace it. But since our lawns have been replaced by city lawns, the grass we planted is now in the shade (we have lots of shade trees now, so there is plenty of shade), and the grass is not as healthy as we wanted.
We don’t want to see this happen to our cities, which is why we support saving the native grasses in the city instead of putting in grass.
Letting the grass die is fine — but by then, it will only be another memory. We had a drought in the 90s (which we did not like) followed by a rainy spring which followed by a darksummer that followed by a mild fall. Now we are having another darksummer. Last winter, we never saw a snow, and summer after summer seems to be more and more dry and hotter.
We are concerned with the health of our city, instead of the health of our lawns. And we believe we need to save the native grasses from being replaced by the city.
We hope City Council will look at our comments about the need for native grasses and not allow the grass to die.
P.S. — I’m a city government employee, and I believe I have a better way of addressing this problem.
Posted: Friday, May 20, 2011
I grew up about a 10 minute drive south of San Francisco along the Golden Gate Bridge.
