Hate grass? Here's how we can get rid of it

Here's the history of grass in Florida — and how to get rid of it

Article and Video Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Mike Thomas

Published June 12, 2011

 Watch VIDEO

  

People hate their grass. They hate it more than Gov. Rick Scott.

Liberals and conservatives agree that grass sucks … water.

My anti-sod rant Tuesday unleashed a primal scream from readers fed up and flat broke from sprinkling, fertilizing, edging, mowing, weeding, poisoning, patching and replacing.

They pleaded with me to show them some other way.

 

I will. But first we need to understand how we got to this point.

The Indians once roamed free in Florida. But then settlers arrived and brought with them A. Duda & Sons to tame this new land.

Moving in quarter-acre increments, the settlers scraped away the trees and shrubs and plopped down ranch homes. They surrounded them with St. Augustine grass to keep the wildlife out because the only animals that can live on sod are cows and Labrador retrievers. Confronted with losing their weekends to yard work, the Indians fled to the Everglades.

Mike Thomas: So if not grass, then what?
Mike Thomas asks Landscaper Mark
Vaughn about grass alternatives


    

And the billion-dollar grass industrial complex took root — and an entire economy based on growers, fertilizer makers, chemical companies, landscapers, lawn services and Briggs & Stratton engines.

People sensed this was wrong. But with no exposure to alternatives, they just kept ordering more pallets.

Homeowner associations had absolute power to demand sod and perpetuate it into infinity and beyond.

And now this cult of grass has depleted our water and poisoned our lakes.

People, at long last, are questioning the sanity of this.

A major victory came in 2009. State lawmakers let homeowners replace their sod with "Florida-friendly landscaping," even if this violated the homeowner-association bylaws. Think trees, mulch beds, ground covers and so on.

Unfortunately, there is a loophole.

"The associations aren't regulated," attorney Barbara Stage says. "Even though there is a great law on the books, if the association decides to break the law, there is no state agency to turn to. These are private corporations run by neighbors with permission to trample your constitutional rights."

The homeowner association for the area where Ron Wix lives in Clermont tried to stop him from tearing out his sod, so he got a lawyer. And now all his sod is gone except a small patch in his front yard.

"The back and sides are done in stone and shrubs," he says. "It looks real nice. And all the other yards look horrendous. I can sit back and relax and watch everyone else go through the headaches. I don't care how hot it gets, how cold it gets, or if there is a drought. It always looks the same. I don't worry about chinch bugs because they don't eat rock. You wouldn't believe the money you save."

Mark Vaughn of Ohana Landscape Creations in Oviedo also is a fan of rocks.

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