Desert landscaping or fake grass? Which would you choose?

[cantdrv55]

I’m thinking of ripping out my grass lawns in favor of either desert landscaping or fake grass. A few of my neighbors put in the fake stuff last year and though their yards look nice they’re obviously plastic. We might be headed for another year of drought in CA so my grass is doing to die again anyway. What are your thoughts about desert vs astro turf landscaping?

[Alan A]

Desert IMO.
Bronx gardens look silly after a couple of years.

[john70t]

Indigenous plants support wildlife and cool large areas. Even grasses help.
Multch and rocks keep surface temps down and collect water at night.
(stay away from eucalyptus and other large kindling)

Water tables have permanently dropped, but with all the the global warming talk I'm not sure why replanting efforts was not foremost on the topic list.

[Evans, Marv]

Originally Posted by john70t

Indigenous plants support wildlife and cool large areas. Even grasses help.
Multch and rocks keep surface temps down and collect water at night.
(stay away from eucalyptus and other large kindling).

I agree. Plastic lawns don't support much wildlife. Zeroscape isn't high maintenance but does take some attention.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Can you post some pics of the plastic lawns? I only thought they did that at miniature golf courses.

[look 171]

Between the two, fake grass for me. They look so good now that I can't tell the difference from 3 feet away. I am old fashion LA resident, so a grassy front and back yard is important to me. I hate the desert look. What we love in AZ or something? That's all I ssee when I'm there, so that's ok.

[Rick Lee]

I have astro turf in my backyard. I would never want to have to own a mower or add sprinklers for such a small area. It looks fine. Won't be cheap to replace, but I'll deal with it then. I don't care about attracting more wildlife into my backyard. We have enough rabbits, scorpions, snakes and pigeons as it is.

[908/930]

One of my neighbours has a small section in front of their house done with fake grass, not sure what manufacturer but I would think it was real, it looks great with the plants around it.

[flatbutt]

I'd go desert.

[group911@aol.co]

Why not some of both?

[upsscott]

I’m in the process of designing a desert scape for the back yard and for the front I was going to do artificial turf because my front is very small. My kooky neighbor has ha$ it for a few years and it still looks great.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by group911@aol.co

Why not some of both?

This is the correct answer...

[MAS956]

If you have dogs, you don't want fake grass. Pee soaked plastic baking in the sun is no bueno.

[stomachmonkey]

Dessert.

[Pazuzu]

Fake grass may look real (and the good stuff even feels real), but everyone knows it's fake. EVERYONE. And, some of your neighbors will hate you for it.

Xeriscape can be as fun and creative as you want, or just look like a basic desert yard. NO ONE will hate you for having some pebbles and cactus in your yard.

Do you want to be hated, even if it's just a little?

[Crowbob]

A fake lawn is an abomination, IMO.

A real lawn in a place where there aren't supposed to be lawns, such as in the desert, are almost as bad.

[look 171]

Don't know about your cities, but almost all cities around here have ordinances that require so many percentage of the yard to be covered by grass or greenery.

I remember about 10 years ago during one of our many long droughts, everyone changed over to the desert look trying to do their part and get away from the heavy fines for wasting water. This owner in Orange County was fined due to over-watering only to discovered the water power changed their tier usage. He spend thousands creating the desert look only to be fined by the city for not meeting the geenery percentage code. He has to install the grass back spending thousands again. Be careful out there.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by look 171

Don't know about your cities, but almost all cities around here have ordinances that require so many percentage of the yard to be covered by grass or greenery.

I remember about 10 years ago during one of our many long droughts, everyone changed over to the desert look trying to do their part and get away from the heavy fines for wasting water. This owner in Orange County was fined due to over-watering only to discovered the water power changed their tier usage. He spend thousands creating the desert look only to be fined by the city for not meeting the geenery percentage code. He has to install the grass back spending thousands again. Be careful out there.

I wonder how restrictive the definition of "greenery" is - at an other house we had a bunch of creeping thyme as groundcover that was green-ish, bloomed in pink and white and never grew more than 2" high. Water-thrifty, bees and other bugs loved it and frankly prettier than a traditional lawn.

[Aurel]

I would do desert landscaping. We had that in New Mexico and it was pretty and natural.

[gregpark]

If I decided on fake grass I'd go all the way and get me some up some gnomes and pink Flamingos. I think you can get plastic grass in different colors too, I'd give Boise St. a call on that