Like many proud homeowners, John Chen doesn’t need much prodding to brag about his lawn. The Seattle business owner will wax poetic about its perfect shade of green, its flawless uniformity and the way it neatly frames the flagstones leading to his front door. In the summer, Chen likes to pad around the yard barefoot, watching his three children dash through the grass and hurl themselves down the family Slip ’N Slide. But Chen’s favorite thing about the lawn? It’s made of plastic. (Bing: Find a plastic-grass dealer)
In a tiny but growing number of patches in suburbia, low-maintenance yard mavens are rolling out a high-tech version of the stuff that used to adorn concrete balconies — and are calling it their lawn. Don’t laugh. The makers of the grass — who go by such monikers as Perfect Turf and ForeverLawn — say artificial lawns are one of the few landscaping businesses that have turned out to be recession-proof. Neighbors may be puzzled by the sight, but makers say they’ve been hard at work on the fake fuzz, developing new grasses with multicolor blades and even extra padding for tush-friendly picnicking. “We want to replicate grass and then some,” says George Neagle, vice president of sales and marketing for industry bigwig SynLawn.
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Certainly, both the economy and environmental issues work in faux grass’s favor. Though far more expensive than real grass to buy and install — it can cost up to three times as much as natural turf, or roughly $6,000 to $8,000 for a typical lawn — the lifetime savings add up. After all, the lawns require no seeding, fertilizing or trimming; homeowners do little more than hose down the grass when it’s dirty and occasionally break out a rake to fluff up any matted patches. The industry also plays up its environmental benefits, including fewer pollution-spewing mowers, a reduction in harsh chemicals such as fertilizer or insecticide and, most important, less water use. In drought-prone regions, municipalities like Los Angeles County have even provided tax rebates for residents who remove areas of natural lawn.
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Many people still find ersatz grass about as appealing as covering their yard in Velcro. Indeed, critics say that despite industry advancements, plastic lawns haven’t completely lost their stubby, neon-hued look. In some areas, the stuff is so controversial that towns have banned it and neighborhood associations have fined homeowners who refuse to remove it. And artificial lawns still have a few rough patches; just ask pet owners, many of whom report that the turf makes their animals’ waste especially, well, fragrant.
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So is faux grass the lawn of the future — or a glorified plastic carpet? Below, the latest in the turf wars.
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There’s a reason, of course, that artificial turf used to be seen as little more than “Brillo pad on a sponge.” That’s how Annie Costa, executive director of the Association of Synthetic Grass Installers, describes the earliest incarnation of the stuff, which debuted on football fields in the mid-1960s. Critics decried it as stiff and bristly, dangerously slick when wet, and unforgiving if you fell. But today’s residential turf has changed dramatically. Companies make it more porous for better drainage and soften up the base with sand or rubber chips. The latest grasses attempt to echo the real thing down to the tiniest detail, like using a mix of green tones on the individual blades, adding “dirt” by applying a tan tone to the “thatch” base or even weaving in bits of brown yarn to mimic bits of dead grass. Many companies model their products on specific regional species of grass, each with multiple versions: close-cropped for lawn neatniks and longer varieties for those who like a lush look. SynLawn offers 37 residential varieties — five different fescues alone.
When David Lewis of Lake Elsinore, Calif., went synthetic, he opted for longer blades and a darker green color — a look he could never achieve with his natural lawn, which on 100-plus-degree summer days turned to dust, and on rainy days a mud pit. Tired of resodding twice a year — not to mention the endless mowing and watering — the 39-year-old business owner was more than happy to plunk down $5,000 to see installers peel away his old lawn. Now, he says, his two dogs and two small kids can romp and roll around without tearing up the turf, or suffering the plastic rug burn of yore. And perhaps best of all is how grassy it looks.
“People have to go up close to it,” he says, “before they say, ‘Wow, this isn’t real.’”
Manufacturers credit the new “you coulda fooled me” look to the marvels of science. SynLawn’s Neagle, for one, tends to lapse into sports-car speak when describing the “blend of aesthetics and performance” offered by the company’s latest creation, a dense grass it calls Syntipede, which includes such space-age–sounding features as “Biocel backing” and “Enviroloc technology.” In fact, SynLawn is working with a turfgrass pathologist and other specialists at the University of Tennessee to develop a dedicated research center, where they will test plastic grass with gizmos like weatherometers and mechanical balls covered in little cleats.
But for some, even the latest improvements aren’t enough. Les Bernstein learned this the hard way when the $4,000 artificial turf he rolled onto his Raleigh, N.C., yard raised a stink with his homeowners association. Bernstein says it declared the lawn a violation of its covenant and insisted he yank it out or be fined up to $100 a day. Despite his protests — including a petition to the governor — he ultimately gave in. The association declined to comment, but at least one board member, Sheila Volpe, who confesses to being partial to real fescue grass, said the synthetic stuff, in general, just looks too phony. So where’s Bernstein’s lawn now?
“Rolled up in my driveway,” says Bernstein, sighing.
And Bernstein’s neighborhood is far from the only one skeptical of the plastic grass trend. In Texas, a controversy over one Old East Dallas resident’s lawn even provoked an anti-turf editorial from The Dallas Morning News, which referred to the faux grass as “Frankenlawn.” The paper also questioned the green credentials of a company that replaces living grass with plastic. Indeed, this, combined with the fact that fake lawns must be replaced every eight to 10 years, has raised the eyebrows of many environmentalists.
And even with recent improvements, the grass itself still has some kinks. Heat remains a problem, with a hot day capable of turning an artificial lawn from a lush oasis to a foot-frying carpet of torture. Lawn temperatures can be as high as 30 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit above the air temperature.
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Fake turf can sometimes require a surprising amount of care, says Kansas City, Mo.-based landscape architect Jeff Bruce, who works with both natural and artificial grass. Bruce says homeowners who allow their turf to get too dirty may find themselves back to weeding because plants sometimes take root on top of the plastic surface. And David Lewis discovered another turf flaw, thanks to his two dogs. If he doesn’t hose down the animals’ waste within 10 minutes or so, the smell becomes unbearable — far worse than it was with natural lawn, he says.
Pet smell or no, the industry rolls forward. SynLawn says it now touts a temperature-controlled yarn called Heatblock to minimize the burn factor and anti-microbial agents to repel mold, while companies like FieldTurf and PolyTurf have come out with lines of recyclable turf aimed at minimizing green plastic rolls in landfills. And all the companies say they’re working hard to rid fake grass of its tacky reputation. Back in Seattle, John Chen doesn’t seem bothered by the stigma; what really excites the frequent business traveler are his new, mower-free weekends.
“I’d rather spend those hours with my kids,” he says.
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