b'What LawnType Suits You?Are native or grass lawns better for the general public? Lisa KopochinskiWHO DOESNTlove a well-manicuredConversely, grass lawn species have lawn? Whether it is to complement abeen developed for desired traits includ-home, sporting field or business, it can being resilience to weather, pests, disease, challenging to achieve just the right look. foot traffic and beauty. They are quicker Most people think of grass lawns, butto establish and may be safer for those other options are turfgrass and nativewith anaphylaxis riskan allergic reac-grass. Native grassesof which there aretion that could be life threatening for many varietiesare both short, tall andsome individuals.mingle beautifully with native wildflowersScott Rushe, forage market develop-in naturalized settings. ment manager at Seedway, says grass Many lawns are from native grasses,lawns can provide quicker erosion control, explains Shannon Cappellazzi, director ofcooling of the atmosphere and ease of research at GO Seed, a Salem, Oregon- establishment over native type lawns. based company. Turfgrass produces oxygen quicker Native needs context, she says.than native grasses due to the density That is, native to where and even when.and rapid establishment, says Rushe. Nature is anything but static and justTurfgrass also helps filter water from about anyone you ask will have a differentrunoff, provides excellent erosion control interpretation as to what native means.due to the extensive rooting. A native When we consider native to where, therelawn is more drought-tolerant, lower are vastly different ideas of how narrowmaintenance and creates a wildlife habitat the geography is. The spectrum can be asin open areas.narrow as a three-mile radius and as largeLeah Brilman, director of product as a country. There is also a resurgence ofmanagement and technical services at meadow type lawns, which include tinyDLF Pickseed, says grasses and all plants clovers and other flowers alongside theremove COfrom the atmosphere in 2improved turfgrasses. photosynthesis and sequester it in other forms of carbon. The act of doing it is Environmental Benefits called sequestration. Cappellazzi says the main benefit ofAnnual plants tend to die, and the CO2native lawns is that the species hasdoes not remain in the soil, Brilman says. developed over time in a region withinRespiration of the plants and microbes in the natural ecosystem. Meaning, they arethe soil release some back to atmosphere, Beauty is often in the eye of theadapted to regional climate and soil.but grasses have a net gain of carbon beholder as we adjust our thinking of They can work in balance with otherlocked up in the soil and plant parts. We what a lawn should look like. Theplants and organisms within that regionhave less information on native grasses diversity in a lawn such as thiswith tallwith minimal potential risks to changes inand most comes from old, undisturbed fescue and wildflowersserves multiplethe ecosystems balance and can provideprairies. Both native and standard turf-functions.PHOTO COURTESY OF GO SEED pollinator habitat, she says. grasses occur naturally in areas that have 48/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2021'