Sunday, July 31, 2005
The Grass is Always Greener if its Plastic
I feel a deep sense of something wrong about this idea, logically it makes sense... if you assume a green lawn is a good thing. Still it makes me feel unclean.
Jax
Lawns were once a simple thing. They were natural and beloved and also expected. A good lawn symbolized middle-class values and the Protestant work ethic. The concept of a perfect lawn, a British invention, arrived on North American shores near the end of the 19th century. In Florida, only rich people such as Henry Flagler and Henry Plant had them at first. But after World War II, almost anybody could play at being Jay Gatsby. A lawn popped up with every little GI tract house that sprouted in every Florida burg.
In the 21st century, the state boasts 5-million acres of lawns, according to University of Florida scientists, with St. Augustine grass considered the dominant turf. Thick, spongy and deep, St. Augustine is both attractive and expensive to maintain. . .
A few rebellious Florida citizens, wishing to conserve water and avoid chemicals, started replacing their lawns with drought-resistant native vegetation in the 1990s. Many of them quickly ran afoul of municipal ordinances that required lawns. Now virtually every city in Florida encourages diversified landscapes as long as they conserve water. But plastic lawns? Who in the world could love a plastic lawn?
Bruce Swift, that's who. Don't mow the grass Bruce Swift grew up in Chicago, moved to South Florida, sold real estate by the gazillions, then met a guy a few years ago named Dale Potts, whose business was installing artificial putting greens. Inspired, Swift started a spinoff business in Boca Raton he called Waterless Grass in 2003.
Now he has a second headquarters in Phoenix and says he has 115 Waterless Grass franchises in 33 states and nine countries. "New Jersey has 12 dealers alone," he says. "Water conservation is a huge issue in New Jersey." (Link)
Jax
Lawns were once a simple thing. They were natural and beloved and also expected. A good lawn symbolized middle-class values and the Protestant work ethic. The concept of a perfect lawn, a British invention, arrived on North American shores near the end of the 19th century. In Florida, only rich people such as Henry Flagler and Henry Plant had them at first. But after World War II, almost anybody could play at being Jay Gatsby. A lawn popped up with every little GI tract house that sprouted in every Florida burg.
In the 21st century, the state boasts 5-million acres of lawns, according to University of Florida scientists, with St. Augustine grass considered the dominant turf. Thick, spongy and deep, St. Augustine is both attractive and expensive to maintain. . .
A few rebellious Florida citizens, wishing to conserve water and avoid chemicals, started replacing their lawns with drought-resistant native vegetation in the 1990s. Many of them quickly ran afoul of municipal ordinances that required lawns. Now virtually every city in Florida encourages diversified landscapes as long as they conserve water. But plastic lawns? Who in the world could love a plastic lawn?
Bruce Swift, that's who. Don't mow the grass Bruce Swift grew up in Chicago, moved to South Florida, sold real estate by the gazillions, then met a guy a few years ago named Dale Potts, whose business was installing artificial putting greens. Inspired, Swift started a spinoff business in Boca Raton he called Waterless Grass in 2003.
Now he has a second headquarters in Phoenix and says he has 115 Waterless Grass franchises in 33 states and nine countries. "New Jersey has 12 dealers alone," he says. "Water conservation is a huge issue in New Jersey." (Link)
