"Grass Man" Spreads Message of Drought Tolerant Landscaping Around the World

John Greenlee sees the making of a revolution in blades of grass. Every day, he finds inspiration in rolling lawns that waste water in millions of front yards.

It doesn't have to be this way.

"Traditional lawns are really thirsty and need lots of water," he said. "We developed this whole culture of turf grass where a good lawn equals a good citizen.

"But the cycle of watering and mowing and blowing and fertilizing really takes a toll on the planet," he added. "It adds up to a net ecological disaster."

So Greenlee is converting traditional turf lawns into ornamental grasses and perennials for a meadowlike, more natural mix.

"This is a one-garden-at-a-time revolution," he said.

Nicknamed "The Grass Man," Greenlee is a landscape authority to the stars.

Among his clients are Steven Spielberg, Eric Clapton and Disneyland. He wrote the definitive book on alternative lawn possibilities, "The Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses."

Greenlee travels the world, consulting on water-stingy but beautiful landscaping. One week, he's in Arizona; the next, Dubai.

"I didn't set out to be this guy," Greenlee said in a phone interview from his San Francisco Bay Area headquarters. "I became an expert by default."

When Greenlee first started touting ornamental grasses in the 1980s, there was little interest.

"You can see how much they've grown in popularity by (Sunset's) Western Garden Book," he said. "Now, they make up a whole section."

Traditional turf has its place, he said, mostly on playing fields. But not on home lawns.

"It's an uphill battle," Greenlee said. "The lawn insinuated itself into American family life. To kill your lawn is akin to assaulting people."

Some cities and homeowners associations require front-yard lawns.

"You can run into big problems creating a meadow garden," he said. "People will accuse you of bringing the neighborhood down. ... It's a long, slow process getting people to understand this new paradigm.

"It's not just the watering," he continued. "Gas-powered lawn tools are incredibly pollution-causing. People poison the soil with weed killers. Those poisons run off into the streams and rivers and kill wildlife. ... All this pollution is going on in the guise of decorating the planet. It's got to change."

Besides breaking a cycle of water waste and pollution, Greenlee's alternative meadows can be easy to take care of and beautiful, incorporating drought-tolerant grasses that need little mowing, fertilizing or other care.

"The water-saving aspect is really, really important," he said. "But I also want people to realize these natural lawns and meadows are very pretty."