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I RECENTLY stood surveying my new front lawn with a landscaper. The grass is a fine-bladed fescue variety that grows slowly, partly because it is a shade-tolerant species situated beneath the cover of my front yard鈥檚 large oak trees. and can produce enough sugars to grow in limited light.

It is important to know whether your lawn is populated by sun-loving or shade-tolerant plants because they have different nutrient requirements. All plants have relatively high nitrogen needs because , contains nitrogen. Shade-tolerant varieties, however, generally have lower nitrogen requirements and higher potassium needs than sun-loving ones. Potassium appears to play an important role in helping these grasses .

The lawn looked quite healthy to my eye, yet the landscaper informed me that the scattered weeds would be removed. I had to look closely to spot the weeds, which were green plants with broader leaves than the grass. I chuckled as I recited my often-shared mantra that weeds were just 鈥済ood plants with a bad reputation鈥�. Within days of moving in, they began to disappear due to uprooting and herbicide application by the landscaper. The yard took on a commonly prized, uniform-green appearance as the plant diversity was reduced to just a single shade-tolerant grass species.

Across my typical Midwestern neighbourhood, there are a range of lawns, from those with a highly manicured, single-species grass variety to those with an increased diversity of mixed grasses and weeds. One common argument against highly manicured grass lawns is that they negatively affect local plant and insect biodiversity. Researchers have suggested that lawn-owners should mow less frequently to , while also without the need to use quite so many pesticides.

Discussions around ways to make lawns more sustainable have also seen a drive to accept lawns comprised of diverse plant species 鈥� rather than a single, aesthetically pleasing grass. The cultivation of lawn diversity is another way to decrease the need for pesticides and herbicides, because .

The use of fully artificial turf has also increased around the globe, including in places where water is scarce. Artificial lawns have grown in popularity because they require less care and cut out the need for water and fertiliser, as well as the fuel associated with mowing. Given that grass maintenance requires roughly 3 trillion gallons of water per year in the continental US alone, , concerns about water conservation are rightly considered when discussing the adoption of artificial lawns.

But these lawns come with notable drawbacks. Some are made with . After wear and tear, they must be replaced, and many aren鈥檛 . Although they are , artificial lawns can compact the soil below them, which impedes rain uptake and increases water run-off; natural plants might rely on water to grow, but they can contribute to the water cycle through respiration. Artificial lawns also interfere with plant-insect interactions and can contribute to .

Given the debates between the extremes of highly manicured, single-species lawns and similarly aesthetically pleasing artificial turf, I have thought frequently about compromises. I am not likely to adopt an artificial turf because of the ecological drawbacks, and because I love the smell of fresh-cut grass, but there are several alternatives.

These include cultivating lawns with , which need less water and give a lovely green appearance, or with native plants that can act as ground cover and require little to no mowing. , for example, performs well in shady Midwestern yards such as mine. As a bonus, these plants can occasionally provide a colourful and delightful bloom!

Such plants are often adapted to outcompete weeds and thus provide greenery with little need for herbicides. Wild native grasses generally grow slowly, only require minimal or and serve as while supporting plant diversity. Increasing the is also a viable option.

So, while I write this looking out at an expansive single-species grass lawn with few weeds, I am thinking of the sustainable lawn I need to cultivate, which would bring equal aesthetic pleasure along with a greater sense of environmental responsibility.