Ditch the "Grow-Mow-Blow" Mentality of Lawn Care With These Expert Tips

Bay Area landscape designer and horticulturist John Greenlee of Greenlee and Associates wants us to ditch our lawns and lose the "grow-mow-blow" mentality—the conventional approach to lawn care, which relies on toxic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and no small amount of gasoline. "Millions of pounds of chemicals are put down on American lawns every single year," says Greenlee.

But that doesn’t mean he wants us to abandon grass altogether. Nicknamed "the Grassman," Greenlee, who has published several books on the subject, champions a wider and more native palette of grasses, species that evolved to thrive in specific climates. It’s an ecological and aesthetic shift from turf to meadow.

"We often forget nature paints the landscape in a hundred shades of green," he says. "Maybe we just need to adjust our garden palette to include softer greens, subtle gray-blues, and even blondes and browns with the finer textures."