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- Bent grass makes a charming lawn or meadow.
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- Emerald green Red fescue makes a beautiful, velvety lawn or wavy meadow.
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- A closer look at the Carex pansa IdealMow lawn shows just how much it feels like a traditional lawn. Phormium ‘Jack Sprat’ creates a border of purple, and yet another grass, Muhlenbergia rigens, creates an elevated accent.
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- This vividly green front lawn is a yarrow IdealMow lawn alternative that will erupt with white flowers, surrounding this sunny Santa Monica home with the look of snow. In addition to being featured on several years of the Theodore Payne Foundation Native Garden Tour, the Santa Monica Conservancy has recognized its historical relevance.
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- Common Yarrow can provide a bright green, feathery lawn when mowed. Left to grow, delightful blooms emerge. Of course, it is also possible to plant yarrows specifically for their spectacular blooms!
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- Like golden clouds, these grasses provide warmth and movement to the peaceful green and white landscape, perfectly complimenting a rigorously edited beyond-grass IdealMow lawn alternative.
5 Reasons Keeping It Real Is Sexier Than Plastic
Updated April 14, 2020. By Cassy Aoyagi: Los Angeles may be known for plastic-assisted physical perfection, but there is one area where our real endowment is worth preserving. California native grasses, many of which we call IdealMow lawns deliver outstanding aesthetics without the cost or health consequences of synthetic alternatives. Here are a few reasons to keep it real:
Protect your health! Right now, we have elevated concerns about synthetics related to Covid-19. Where the virus has been shown to survive on organic materials for short timeframes, it can be active on plastics for up to 72 hours.
The most compelling reasons to keep it real have always been the health tradeoffs. Synthetics have been connected to negative health impacts from heat exhaustion to lymphoma. Those with allergens to latex should avoid them. Pet owners in particular must take care to provide pets with a separate place to get cool when synthetics amplify heat islands and take care to avoid staphylococcal infection by immediately and thoroughly removing biological contaminants.
In contrast, IdealMow lawn alternatives clean themselves offer a self-cleaning and cooling space to play and lounge. You and yours won’t be the only ones to enjoy it… Native birds and butterflies love California native grasses!
Create your own, distinctive look. Although synthetics may stay green, in all other ways they conform to the same boring traditional lawn look with only slight variation in shade, length and density. In contrast, IdealMow lawns help homeowners achieve a distinctive, very L.A. look. They range in color from blue-grey to emerald green to green-gold. Textures can be anything from rough-house worthy, to velvety or positively shagadelic.
Enjoy better lounge and play. When the weather gets hot, synthetics emit a scent and heat that is something between a parking lot and a tire fire. If used in pet and play areas, the scent may be decidedly more pungent than pleasant. Sunset Magazine also noted “a distinctive plastic crinkle” when attempting to lounge on synthetics. In contrast, IdealMow lawns carry a fresh scent, absorb ambient heat and encourage both lounging and play.
Save more water. IdealMow lawns thrive on just 30 percent of the water a traditional lawn needs to live in Los Angeles. With drip irrigation, water can be delivered straight to their roots, so nothing is wasted. While synthetics may seem like a water-free alternative, they must be sprayed down occasionally to remove biological contaminants. This spray then runs off or evaporates, as if you are spraying a concrete drive.
Save more money. The cost of installing an IdealMow lawn with supporting drip irrigation can be recouped in as little as three years. Depending upon the variety of IdealMow lawn you choose and how often you choose to mow, savings of $25,000-$30,000 can be expected within 10 years. In sharp contrast, House Logic places the recoup mark of a synthetic lawn at 7 years and notes that they should be replaced every 20-25 years. Many municipalities have seen synthetics decade much faster than expected.
Do your mother a solid. Both alternatives save water, eliminate the need for toxic chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and reduce or eliminate pollutants associated with mowing. That is where the similarities end. According to Sunset Magazine, synthetics are no friend of mother earth. “[Synthetics are] made from petrochemical plastics. They’re non-biodegradable, provide no air-clearing photosynthesis, and some environmentalists are concerned they leach heavy metals from “tire crumb” substrates into soil.” Spraying with a chemical detoxifier is recommended to remove biological contaminants. This spray is likely to become run-off.
More Information: If you are ready to get real, Learn More about IdealMow Lawns, See IdealMow Lawn Alternatives, and Pin Your Favorite IdealMow Lawn Looks! Also: