<story><title>Replacing grass lawns with native plants</title><url>https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/opinion/ct-sta-slowik-pandemic-garden-project-st-0530-20210528-2kklpxumlrfnhecwr2ljx7e2qe-story.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jawns</author><text>I have kids who like to play in our yard.  All sorts of sports and running around.  For that type of activity, grass is ideal.&lt;p&gt;In contrast, a yard full of native plants sounds nice ... but you can&amp;#x27;t really &lt;i&gt;do&lt;/i&gt; anything in it.  It becomes ornamental rather than functional.  I can&amp;#x27;t play a game a baseball if my entire yard is ferns and flowers rather than grass.&lt;p&gt;That said, in garden beds and places where plants and trees do make sense, installing native species is a no-brainer.  We&amp;#x27;re in the process of getting rid of a bunch of non-native shrubs and plants and replacing them with native.&lt;p&gt;And in that case, we&amp;#x27;re making a transition from ornamental to functional.  Previously, the trees and shrubs looked nice, but the birds and bugs didn&amp;#x27;t particularly care for them.  Now, the birds are eating the berries, the butterflies and bees are loving the flowering plants, and we spend less time on maintenance.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>trainsplanes</author><text>As a kid, I had more fun playing in untamed woods and patches at the edge of the property where plants did their own thing than I ever did on dried out, razor-sharp summer grass.&lt;p&gt;Kids aren’t too picky about what they play in. They’ll make do with anything.</text></comment>
<story><title>Replacing grass lawns with native plants</title><url>https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/opinion/ct-sta-slowik-pandemic-garden-project-st-0530-20210528-2kklpxumlrfnhecwr2ljx7e2qe-story.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jawns</author><text>I have kids who like to play in our yard.  All sorts of sports and running around.  For that type of activity, grass is ideal.&lt;p&gt;In contrast, a yard full of native plants sounds nice ... but you can&amp;#x27;t really &lt;i&gt;do&lt;/i&gt; anything in it.  It becomes ornamental rather than functional.  I can&amp;#x27;t play a game a baseball if my entire yard is ferns and flowers rather than grass.&lt;p&gt;That said, in garden beds and places where plants and trees do make sense, installing native species is a no-brainer.  We&amp;#x27;re in the process of getting rid of a bunch of non-native shrubs and plants and replacing them with native.&lt;p&gt;And in that case, we&amp;#x27;re making a transition from ornamental to functional.  Previously, the trees and shrubs looked nice, but the birds and bugs didn&amp;#x27;t particularly care for them.  Now, the birds are eating the berries, the butterflies and bees are loving the flowering plants, and we spend less time on maintenance.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>peterb</author><text>I also have kids, but where I live we have plenty of pine &amp;amp; maple trees and traditional grass doesn&amp;#x27;t grow well in the shade. But we are lucky and native moss filled in.  Moss is great for balls, they bounce &amp;amp; roll better, especially for games like bocce &amp;amp; croquet. The kids love it and I rarely have to mow or water. Sometimes there is a native alternative to grass, sometimes not.</text></comment>