Lawns at 11:
The End of the Front Lawn
This past spring, students in the Master of Landscape Architecture program at the University of British Columbia’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, were tasked with developing a manifesto for their future practice, as the culminating final review for their Landscape Theory Course.
Aimed at ending monotonous turf grass on front lawn landscapes, in favour of more biodiverse, ecologically-rich alternatives, one student group developed a news broadcast to spread awareness of this growing movement, successfully making its way across North American communities.
On this special news feature of “Lawns at 11,” hosts Veronica Cornus and Ron Botany first welcome lawn expert and historian Sasha Daisy. The next segment features a debate between Fernie Sanders, one of the organizers of the protest fighting the front lawn, against Mike Mowerton, a concerned homeowner who loves his manicured grass. Following that, Daniella De’Lion takes the stage, as a bylaw officer from the City of Vancouver to discuss what to do when a bylaw officer shows up at your house insisting your property is “unkept” or “overgrown.” At the end, celebrity guest Chef Gordon Ramseed and Landscape Architect Martha Stewartia, cook up some landscape alternatives you may wish to try, that are low maintenance with a high reward, aimed at improving local biodiversity and supporting pollinator species in your front yard.
FUN FACT: The episode makes mention of EDL director Nina-Marie Lister’s triumphant 2020 fight against the City of Toronto for her naturalized front yard, and some of our By-laws for Biodiversity downloadable resources were referenced in the creation of the skit.
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