Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall. 

Today, we’re talking about lawns.  They can be beautiful and soft. But they’re pretty crappy when you evaluate them on really any other measure. Lawns waste water, they leak fertilizer into lakes and rivers… I could go on and on. 

I know all of these things about lawns. But guess what? I still have one! That’s because I’m not sure what to do instead. 

To find out, I drove down to Blue Moon Farm in Wakefield, Rhode Island.

Jane Case owns Blue Moon, which is a nursery for perennial plants. She’s also been gardening at people’s houses for more than 40 years. She’s not a fan of lawns.

Jane Case: I certainly want to encourage people to cut back on their lawns as much as possible.

 Why? Jane says lawn grass is just one type of plant. Plus, it doesn’t really do much.

Jane Case: The only thing it does is provide a nice place for us to walk on.

Megan Hall: What is your advice for me someone with a limited budget, who also wants places that are soft for the kids to play? What should I be doing?

Jane says I don’t have to give up my lawn entirely.

Jane Case: Design your area with your kids in mind, so that they have a place to play. That’s the best use of lawn, really. Keep that part and then start slowly adding in various different plant material.

Megan Hall: Do you want to show me some examples of the kinds of things people could plant? 

Jane Case: Sure. 

Jane walks over to a shady part of the nursery and points to a plant that’s low to the ground and looks like a giant bowl of salad. 

Jane Case: This is a Coral Bell…

Jane Case: In the fall, when you’ve sort of forgotten about it, it sends up these white flowers about two feet above the plant that are big, thick, white.

Jane says berry plants are also great. Especially blueberries, whose leaves turn red in the fall. 

Jane Case: of course, you get the wonderful tasting blueberries, I always cover half of it. So the birds get some and you know, you get some.

Megan Hall: Are there any alternatives to lawns? 

Jane: There certainly are some things for small spaces.

Jane also recommends something called Pennsylvania sedge. She says you only have to mow it once or twice.

Jane Case: It’s taller than grass. It’s probably maybe eight or 10 inches, but it has that soft, lovely look to it. And it can handle a lot of foot traffic.

Megan Hall: Does it require the same amount of water or less or…?

Jane Case: No, anything is going to require a certain amount of irrigation until it gets acclimated.

But after that, everything she sells at this nursery should be able to survive on its own.

Megan Hall: So, I wouldn’t have to have a sprinkler going like, like, several times a week trying to keep it going. Right? 

Jane Case: Absolutely.

Jane says saving water with these plants is a huge bonus, but she’s most concerned with creating spaces that support the insects that pollinate our food.

Megan Hall:  What would you say to someone who’s like, what difference does my little yard make? I just have like a tiny house, that can’t make a difference. 

Jane Case: But hook that up with your next-door neighbor and their next-door neighbor, and taking it up all across the country. It can make all the difference in the world.

Jane says there’s a lot of focus on protecting national parks and other parts of nature, but there’s also something to be said about cultivating that wildness right here where we live.

That’s it for today. To see a picture of Jane and some of the plants she recommended, go to the public’s radio dot org slash possibly.  To hear more of our episodes, subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts. 

Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.

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