One homeowner based in the Pacific Northwest witnessed something so upsetting on their neighbor's property that they had to share it with the r/landscaping subreddit.
"This house [is] for sale in my neighborhood. Is this some sort of grass….paint??" the poster wrote.
The accompanying photo does indeed show a grass lawn that appears to have been painted a particularly unnatural shade of green.
"It's got to be some sort of paint because I notice some overspray on the rocks," one commenter replied.
Painting grass green is a more widespread practice than some would believe, and, as another commenter pointed out, it's a technique often used to cover up dead grass when a house is being shown for sale.
That doesn't mean that it's a good thing to do, however. Paint contains chemicals that are not healthy for grass, other plants, or the ecosystem at large. Plants also get nutrients by absorbing sunlight, which becomes impossible when they are covered in paint — so if you spray a patch of grass that isn't quite dead yet, it will be soon.
This particular paint job is notable for just how poor the work is — you'd think they could have at least chosen a color that looked a little more realistic — as well as for how unnecessary it ultimately was.
"I live in the Pacific Northwest of the US. Not really what you'd consider a dry area and we don't have water restrictions. That's why this was so odd to me," the original poster clarified further down in the thread.
🗣️ Should HOAs be able to force homeowners to change their yards?
🔘 Absolutely not 💯
🔘 Yes — it's part of the deal 🤝
🔘 Only in extreme circumstances 🏚️
🔘 We should ban HOAs 🚫
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
One major takeaway here is that maintaining a uniform grass lawn is often a costly, time-consuming, and environmentally unfriendly task that requires excessive water and chemical usage and discourages biodiversity, harming the ecosystem at large.
A much better alternative to a grass lawn (if your HOA will let you get away with it) is to install native plants that are already adapted to thrive in your ecosystem with minimal maintenance and can live in harmony together.
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