History of Grass

The term "grass" is used to cover a broad range of green plants and is known to include such plants used in pastures and other field greens. True grass, however, is considered to be the controlled lawns that are common in commercial and private yards. Grass has been around for centuries, but its use in lawn decoration and ornamental landscaping is more recent in our history.

History

Grass has been around since the dawn of time, but controlled lawns and turf grass originated in England in the middle of the seventeenth century. Wealthy homeowners who could afford the tremendous labor costs involved in lawn maintenance, were the only people who had lawns back then making them a luxury. Due to the marketing campaign of The American Garden Club (see Resources below), grass lawns were soon exported to the United States, and with the invention of the push mower in the nineteenth century, lawn maintenance became much more affordable. Since then, grass lawns have undergone many changes. Grass breeders began experimenting with mixing warm and cold season grass seeds together in order to create evergreen lawns in the early 1900s, which lead to a more mainstream push for grass lawns in the United States. Between 1910 and 1924, the U.S. Golf Association (USGA) helped to fund new research in lawn cultivation. In 1965, M. Faria and Robert T. Wright of Monsanto Industries invented Astroturf, which is a monofilament product that mimics the look of real grass, but is much easier to maintain.

Function

Grass is one of the most important features in both private and commercial real estate. As well as being a standard feature in ornamental lawns, grass is also a vital part of virtually all leisure and professional athletics. For aesthetic purposes, grass is used as part of a vital base for most gardens, public parks and other commercial spaces. The vast recreational purposes of grass are immense, with grass being used in most sport and leisurely activities from football to golf. Though grass is used as an ornamental showpiece, it has other functions as well. On an ecological level, grass helps to keep dust settled and prevent erosion. As the base of a large majority of athletics, grass acts as a soft carpet, absorbing shock and breaking falls.

Types

There are thousands of varieties of grass used in lawns today. Adapted to fit specific climates and be tolerant of most weather patterns, different types and species have been combined to provide evergreen mixtures for every climate. Coarser grasses are used on high traffic lawns like those seen in sports or public parks. Softer grasses are used for ornamental lawns. Nowadays, it is very common to mix different types of grass seeds to help in year-round growth. Cool season grasses can be mixed with warm season grasses to help maintain an evergreen lawn. Grass breeders are constantly creating new breeds and mixtures in an attempt at making the most convenient and beautiful lawn whether you live in an oceanic, tropical or continental climate. Modern grasses are not even grass at all, but a synthetic material that mimics the look and feel of real grass. Astroturf and other fake grass products are more commonly used for athletic fields and stadiums.

Considerations

There are two basic varieties of grass: cool season and warm season. Cool season grasses are dense and thick, and retain well in extremely cold conditions. They start growing at about 5 degrees C, but grow best at 10 to 25 degrees C. Warm season grasses are very drought-resistant and can handle extremely high temperatures, but will die in extremely cold temperatures. Warm season grasses grow best between 10 to 25 degrees C. The most common cold season grass types are Bluegrass, Betgrass and Ryegrass. The most common warm season grasses are Bermudagrass, Centipedegrass and Buffalograss.

Potential

While grass, commercial and private turfs, and controlled lawns still serve an important ornamental function, the envy of luscious green lawns and gardens has dulled. Today, grass maintenance is under a tremendous amount of scrutiny due to the high cost of maintenance and the drain on our natural resources like water and energy. More and more people are opting for maintenance-free landscaping options, like the modern xeroscaping technique that requires little to no water and no physical upkeep. The grass that was once the envy of most Americans is now the bane of our existence.

Resources

• More on the History of Grass
• About Xeroscaping