Of course, the next resident of my house could dig it all up and replant grass, but why buy my house if you want lawn?
Sadly, the people who bought our previous home did just that. What made my house special was the yard and plantings, but they bought it and killed almost everything. They took out the vegie gardens, the many flower gardens, the evergreen foundation shrubs, the prairie/wildflower area, all the raspberries, currants, gooseberries, rhubarb, and asparagus. Although they didn't dig up the bulb gardens, they put sod over them to try to stop the daffodils, crocus, tulips, hyacinths, etc. from coming through. They did dig out lilac, honeysuckle, and hardy hibiscus bushes. They had equipment and dudes with hardhats in to cut down and remove all traces of 4 peach trees, two cherry, a plum, a pear, an apple, a basswood, 2 gorgeous flowering crabs, several pines, a few walnut trees, several ash, a few other large trees, a lovely multi-trunk river birch, and the 25+ foot tall maple tree I had planted for Earth Day many years earlier. They gave no hint of their intentions, and put in the contract that I had to leave all the plantings! They were just plain cruel, I figure it had to do with them being Republicans. ;-)
We had been having less lawn every year there, now it is back to all lawn except for a few remaining trees. About the only thing they kept that I had planted were two redbud trees and one pear tree. Then they had marital problems, and sold the house to some old couple who had the remaining pear tree and a giant willow removed, the tallest tree in the yard. Sigh.
I have 5 acres now, not much is mowed. Most of our neighbors mow all their land, which is from 3 to 10 acres in size mostly, I think they are insane, they probably feel the same about us. Half of our mowed area is in the paths that meander around the orchard/prairie which makes up most of the space. We have a small bit of lawn around the house, and we mow a bit around the gardens. Have never put any chemicals on lawns ever, so I don't really understand why it is hard to get away from them. I admittedly don't care much what my lawn looks like, but it is fairly green and lawn looking, so what else do you need? We have lots of clover and other things in the lawn. I am somewhat lucky in that I bought the property from my mom, and my family had let the property be mostly wild for decades now. From time to time they planted a tree or bush or flower someplace, or sowed some other wildflower seed around. So our yard is quite lovely right now with wild and naturalized goldenrod, black-eyed susans, several colors of wild asters, phlox, mullein, purple coneflower, milkweed, etc. Other times of year we have many other things blooming of course, I am especially fond of the false Solomon's seal and the waves of purple monarda.
We have lots of trees and bushes planted by birds. So we don't have to try to create a natural, organic space, we already have that. The only plants I poison are the poison ivy, and it is poisoning me back so I figure that is only fair. We make a LOT of compost (bring in other people's bagged leaves, manure, old produce from a farm stand, etc. along with our own scraps) and that is our main fertilizer. But compost never goes on the lawn except when we spill it.
