Pave Paradise...

St. Augustine grass is beautiful. Nothing like barefooting on that cool morning grass to grab the paper. Nothing like the smell of freshly cut grass and it looks good too. When covid hit, we hosted weekly neighborhood gatherings in the front yard. In 1987 I had a house built in Mandarin. The contractor sodded the front. I sodded the rest. Where there wasn’t grass, I built a swing set, two-story fort, sand box, picnic area, vegetable garden, and planted shrubs and flower beds. It was built at the end of a cul-de-sac so it was a massive back yard and a veritable kid magnet. It wasn’t uncommon to see dozens of bikes scattered in the driveway. The babble of children at play, a wonderful din to hear. The property had an irrigation meter so no sewage charge on that water. Never checked usage, not even once. Conservation wasn’t top of mind.

Forty years ago, global population was 4.9 billion people now it’s 8.3 billion. That’s a considerable increase in our carbon footprint. We are second only to China in carbon emissions, but they’re gaining on us. They have three times the population.

Conservation is on my mind now and I’ll bet it’ll be on yours sooner than later. It will definitely be on your children’s minds and their children’s as well. You may not have noticed but Florida is filling up.

While St. Augustine grass is a native species in Florida, it’s seldom found in any yards. What is far more common are the cultivars. They are a thirsty bunch. During the summer they need 1-1.5 inches of water a week. Back in the day I found myself mowing 5-6 times a month to get that glorious feeling barefootin’ in that grass. Of course everything was gas powered, and maintained annually. I got off gas in 2009. The next step was to cut back on irrigation. The yard I had in 2022 used 6,000 gallons a month.

In 2023, we replaced the grass with Sunshine Mimosa, Muhly Grass, Lantana, Irises, Asters, Coreopsis, Purple Cone Flowers, Drift Roses, and Yews in the front yard. Switch Grass and Blue-Eyed Grass went in one side yard. Viburnum and Liriopes landed in the other. When it all came in it was popping and once watered in, water usage went below 2,000 gallons per month. Would’ve been less had we not put in a vegetable garden out back.

All species did well. Pollinators were everywhere. The Muhly Grass sprouted mauve feathers. Mimosa Grass, Lantana, Drift Roses, Coreopsis, and Cone flowers bloomed all year. Blue Eyed Grass, Irises and Asters soloed at their assigned times. Autumn was a crescendo of growth and color. As Halloween came around things simmered down.

Winter was quiet and frankly, a bit drab. During the height of the growing season people would walk by and take it in. Some would stop, take photos, chat, and fawn. Not so during the winter months. We were concerned, but we muscled through. We pruned, mulched, weeded, and waited. By March they were back!

Native gardens are a lot of work especially if you’ve committed to stay away from chemicals. A host of native plants find their way into native gardens that aren’t purchased in a garden store. These are, of course, weeds and a panoply of them exist in our yard. But there is one species that has attracted my attention as much as Ahab was attracted to his White Whale… Nut Sedge (best snarled as Seinfeld did when he encountered Newman). I dig up hundreds every week.

Runoff is a thing. You hear about beach and lake closings every year. More of it occurs simply because more and more individuals, developers, corporations, and agricultural operations use chemicals that ultimately find their way into the water supply. What you may also hear about are hefty class action law suits against companies producing these products that ended up in drinking water and made a lot of folks that were exposed to them sick. Don’t know for sure but I’ll bet part of the problem involved a failure to pay attention to the instructions. We stopped using chemicals when we “went native”. Presently I’m exploring the efficacy of commercial grade vinegar to control the sedge which, so far, has sown some promise. However, if we use chemicals again, we will study the label. The label is not fun and exciting reading either. Sometimes you’ll need a magnifying glass too. But your health and our fresh water depends on us following the instructions. This is, as Walter Brennan would say in “The Guns of Will Sonnett”, No brag…just fact!