Lawn damage – Spring 2012
Not surprising with all of the Japanese beetle activity last summer – the beetle is one of the parents of the grub – there is quite a lot of grub damage in many lawns this Spring. It’s not time to be totally discouraged with your lawn. Some things you should know:
- Grass on the front yards of 8 houses has the same cooling effect as 17 air conditioned homes.
- A lawn on a hot summer day can be 30 degrees Celsius cooler than asphalt.
- Turf and garden plants can reduce erosion and water runoff.
- Lawns and plants absorb a significant amount of carbon dioxide.
If you still want to give up on your lawn – there are lots of ground covers that you might consider: for shade – periwinkle, dead nettle, bugleweed, and Japanese spurge; for sun – rock cress, false rock cress, creeping phlox, candy tuft, creeping thyme, sedum etc. If the plant doesn’t stand up to foot traffic, you can always lay a casual flagstone path throughout your new groundcover area!
