MADRID — The year is 1945. World War II has ended and surviving U.S. soldiers are returning home. They must be given a good place to live. One that symbolizes the triumph of the American dream. One that accommodates private property, individualism and the rise of the middle class. One with a nice lawn to water and mow.
This vision gave birth to Levittown, New York, the first residential neighborhood of houses with yards, later built en masse in the United States. The idea caught on and soon everyone wanted to live in such a place. Little houses surrounded by immaculate lawns conquered the country and, thanks to the cultural industry, the Western world.
For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.
Today, that American dream is struggling to survive in a world that has changed a lot. The economic situation is not what it used to be, few can afford a house with a yard, and most homeowners in residential areas cannot afford landscaping services.
The climate and weather are not the same either: in many places throughout the United States, drought and high temperatures make it impossible to keep grass lawns well-watered all year round. So much so that people increasingly end up painting it green. Sure, there are other options to save gardens from the claws of climate change, even if they mean giving up the dream of the average Westerner.
Rethinking the yard
A green and pristine lawn is not only the symbol of an ideal society, but it is also a reflection of the large amounts of water, fertilizers, pesticides and energy that the world we’ve built requires. The care needed by this type of yard varies greatly depending on the species used, the soil and the climate, but grass is one of the ornamental plants that consumes the most resources.
A study carried out in 2016 in hotels in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, in the sunny and dry Canary Islands, concluded that a lawn requires a daily average of 2.67 liters (90 ounces) of water per square meter (10 square feet) to always be green.
Another study, this time carried out in Vancouver, Canada, indicates that it needs 3.57 liters (120 ounces) per square meter per day during periods of maximum demand and that it is actually usually over-watered. In fact, it found that the yard is the space where the most water is wasted in the entire household. Finally, another study, published in New South Wales, Australia, concludes that 25% of the country’s domestic water consumption is spent on watering the lawn.
Rethinking the traditional concept of a yard is crucial.
Yet the alternative is not to not water, let the grass die and paint it green. Rather, it is to opt for other types of lawns, adapted to the local climate, with native species that are more similar to the wild and natural ecosystems.
“Rethinking the traditional concept of a yard is crucial,” says Marta Rosique, an environmentalist and educator, founder of Plantea en Verde – a company focused on horticulture and sustainable gardening.
“Adapting our yards to the present and future climatic conditions is not only a sensible response to the water crisis, it is also an opportunity to create more sustainable and resilient spaces. Xerophytic gardening, which consists in growing plants that are adapted to dry environments, is an excellent approach for this goal. Traditional yards, with large areas of grass and water-demanding plants, are unsustainable in many regions,” Rosique says.
A clear trend
In Spain’s case, the climatic trend is clear. The data and projections from the General Directorate of Water indicate a general decrease in rainfall as the 21st century progresses, particularly in the Mediterranean area. This decline will be more or less pronounced depending on whether we continue to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as if there were no tomorrow, or whether we manage to curb emissions.
But water resources will be more scarce either way. Globally, there will be areas where it rains more – in a more torrential and less predictable way – and others where it rains less. But tensions over water are beginning to be evident throughout the planet. This scenario has sparked growing calls for a change in the way we think about our yards. And more and more people (as well as institutions such as botanical gardens) have decided to act.
“In cities, gardens that are adapted to the climate and local biodiversity reduce the average temperature and the urban heat island effect, provide shade and cleans up some of the pollution. Furthermore, they support the pollinating fauna, which is essential, and attract birds and bats,” says Mariano Sánchez, head of gardening at the Royal Botanic Garden in Madrid. “Wild gardens, which try to replicate the natural environment, are equally beneficial and allow the conservation of native flora and pollinators.”
Botanical gardens have a role to play in raising environmental awareness.
For its latest renovations, this botanical garden in the center of the Spanish capital has opted for perennials (which live for at least three years), ornamental bulbs and shrubs from the Mediterranean environment to show the potential of native species in drought-friendly gardening. A little further north, Barcelona’s Jardí Botànic has been focusing for years on preserving and exhibiting collections of Mediterranean plants, with a special focus on native flora.
“Botanical gardens have a role to play in raising environmental awareness. They are scientific institutions at the service of the population and knowledge dissemination,” says Jardí Botànic curator David Bertrán.
“We recreate natural environments as best as possible, with species that are either native or from areas not too far. The classic concept of the botanical garden including vast expanses of grass and exotic plants, which is typical of the colonial mentality that brought species from far away places to the metropolis, is long gone,” he explains.
Turning off the tap
Some 200 miles from Barcelona, in the French town of Mèze, near Montpellier, Olivier and Clara Filippi have been studying the diversity of Mediterranean plants and their resistance to drought for more than 30 years. Over this period, they have built Pépinière Filippi, a space halfway between a nursery and a botanical garden centered on native flora, and have published several books and manuals on dry gardens.
“Around 25,000 species of plants grow in the Mediterranean. Many are beautiful and drought tolerant, but very few are available in nurseries or grown in gardens,” explains Olivier Filippi.
“Dry gardens don’t need a lot of water. With our planting technique, we only have to water them the first year. They are also more ecological, require little maintenance and evolve naturally. They are diverse and come from a great variety of habitats, from shade trees to hedges or flower beds. This in turn allows for a high diversity of insects and birds.”
And how can our yards serve as a refuge and a place of adaptation?
If you’re thinking about creating your own dry garden, Rosique knows where to start: “Most of the work in a xerophytic garden gets done in the design phase. It is important to plan for efficient water collection systems and carefully choose native plants that live well in low water conditions.”
She explains that “Grass, roses or hydrangeas need a lot of water to stay lush. At the other end of the spectrum are shrub plants or herbs, such as salvia, among which we find rosemary, blue fescue or olive trees. You can also opt for succulents, such as agaves and sedums.”
Many towns and cities in the Mediterranean region in general, and in Spain in particular, have long been aware of the fact that water is getting scarce. But to what extent will we experience this scarcity and the lack of rainfall in the future is still up to us.
“Drought will disrupt the way we grow orchards and gardens for sure, but climate change raises other questions,” Olivier Filippi says. “Which species will adapt to the new heat and drought conditions? How will they be able to adapt quickly to the change in their ecological conditions? And how can our yards serve as a refuge and a place of adaptation for plants, insects, birds and other living beings?” Turn off the tap to find out.
