Don’t have it myself, but know people with it. I find it looks fine and functions for front yards. Not so great in back yards which are usually larger and where kids and pets are going to be.

Artificial is only on football fields here in Texas as far as I know. What area is this? It doesn't look bad.

Ouch, that's a hard question. Grass wastes water and fertilizer, plus taking maintenance.

Artificial sod also has issues - I checked into it ONLY briefly, but came away with this:

- Many different vendors, so be sure you like the appearance of what you pick. Best to see a sizable patch of it, not just a little square.

- Proper installation is important, like most construction.

- Be aware if you have trees, evergreen shrubs, etc., lots of deciduous plantings - how are you going keep the artificial lawn clean? Using those blowers is often a touchy issue with neighbors due to the noise - many cities have banned them or restricted hours, and the gas-engined ones are very polluting to boot.

- Check on the "real" lifetime. I read a couple of articles that said the average lifetime of artificial sod is 15 years. At that point it has to be yanked up and off it goes to landfill. Despite some types being marked "recyclable", the dirty truth is that breaking all those different materials down for recycling is difficult and not many places in the US do it. This, for me, was a big obstacle.

I'm still thinking about it - with our drought, I can't put in the kind of cottage garden I created 20 yrs ago and am trying to redesign.

I'm probably going to be faced with choosing the lesser bad of two hard choices. Hope your situation gives you an easier solution!

There is no ”right” answer answer. it depends upon the locale & design. It also depends upon the quality of the the artificial turf. The better ones are almost indistinguishable from real . Quality is important. The second photo is not a good representation of how it can look ( lack of other landscaping ), can’t really tell what the texture & color is like from photo posted.

Real grass meaans you have some degree of nature in your yard. Why have a yard if you don't likee nature? Move to the pcity and live in an asphalt jungle.

It depends on where you live. I'm in the NE and the majority of homes don't have irrigation systems. Mother nature waters our lawns regularly. Artificial turf would be unwanted for lawns. But if I lived in a dry/ hot climate then artificial grass probably would be the better choice.

Both of these homes are residential neighborhoods, i read some of the comments above and i agree that it depands on the area of which a person lives.

As a home owner, one of the biggest downsides of haveing real grass is the maintenance and water bill, specially if you live in California, and even more so when you have a large area to water, some of my water bills get to $600-700 a month, which is insanely high.

In that point artificial turf is a must.

Real grass looks better and it's very useful.