It really is nice to see so many people concerned about the environment and our precious resources. There comes a point when reality has to set in and depending on your location and circumstances artificial or alternatives to regular turf may be the right way to go.

As a senior I am now looking at turning most of my lawn into planted areas with a center walkway. Grass is too much work, not good for the environment, and too-expensive to hire mow and blow guys who insist on using ride on mowers that transport weeds and crabgrass from their commercial customers. I am planning lavender pathways with flowering shrubs in the background. Pam Cordes

While the previous posters have some very nice pics, grass in Arizona just looks strange. If your climate doesn't allow for real grass, you should go native. Native plants, stepping stone pathways, rocks, etc.

I finally installed artificial grass after 10 years of trying to grow grass and maintain it on a 1 acre parcel. The quality of the grass products has really evolved and looks real! Even with some dead looking grass mixed in. It is plush and my dog loves it! Easy to install, no maintanence, no water.............I recommend it to everyone. You get what you pay for so look to pay around $2.50 sq. ft. for a nice quality product (in California). We have mixed in the grass with borders, decorative rock, plants, palms, trees, retaining walls, etc. Makes for a beautiful yard!

Artificial is fine in areas of intense heat and sun....until you step on it and fry your feet! Of course, you can water it to cool it down, but then you're watering fake turf. It also matters whether or not you enjoy growing your own grass and plants.
I chose real, but it's only about 2000 sq ft.

Growing up in Ohio I never would have imagined myself with an artificial yard- Ever...But a move to Nevada changed that. I can't imagine wasting water to have real grass- yet I needed the green...

Does anyone know If creeping thyme (or any other thyme) is good for kids to play on? Looking to redo our backyard without any grass as my husband is allergic to it. We are also concerned about water conservation as we live in S CA. But we also want a spot for grandkids to go out and play. Frankly, artificial is looking mighty appealing!

I'm not sure about fake grass maybe you should try different textures like sand or rocks etc. Good Luck!

I have a creeping thyme that seems pretty resistant to everything, including light foot traffic. In bloom, it is covered with bees and wasps. I was weeding it and got stung multiple times. I had a wasp caught in my shirt and I don't know if it was stinging like crazy because it was stuck or if other insects had stung me. It took over a week for the pain, swelling and itching to be gone.

So, you might want to mow or weed-whack any thyme when it's about to bloom. What is your husband allergic to? The leaves or the flowers of grass? Because if it's the latter, you might be able to plant a smaller area of grass, surrounded by something else, like thyme, which can take the occasional footstep, but maybe not long and energetic playing.

Sedges are not grasses, but they have edges, and you should stroke any you are planning on using for softness.

Check out what others around you use.

We used synthetic turf at 3 different homes we owned in the dry southwest (NM & CA). They all look very natural-- no one knows they are artificial when looking at them. I highly recommend them unless you have babies/kids you want to play on it in the summer, as they can get pretty hot against bare skin (can burn). Otherwise, all positives! In our so. CA lawn, it not only relieved us of high use of water, fertilizer, weed preventer, and mowing, it also eliminated a terrible recurrent gopher problem we had on our former lawn.

Thank you, Sigrid, My husband is allergic to the leaves so anytime the gardeners mow grass the house has to be shut up for a couple of days. However, this is still better than bee/wasp stings!

I know that some people feel almost religious about their yards and real grass, but as long as it looks great and feels soft under your bear feet, who cares! I live in an apartment but I've known people who had replaced their grass with cement before because it was terrible on their water bill! There are some locations that grass will never survive but... It's beautiful when it's great. So I say Yes to fake grass! It's a great option and will save you money in the long wrong with maintenance and water. And you can continue growing real plants around it still.

I vote other! No grass, but native plants. They don't guzzle water and they don't have to be mowed... Plus they are adapted to local soil and pests so they don't need fertilization or pesticides!

A patch (not a lawn) of artificial turf in the desert is a refreshing visual "fix" for snowbirds seeking relief from the view of sand, sand and more sand AND a functional area for the dog to pee.

I love nature so i would prefer natural grass.I love plants, flowers,greenary. flowers can change your entire mood.Being outside in a natural environment can improve memory performance and attention span by twenty percent. Studies have shown that people who spend more time around plants are much more likely to try and help others, and often have more advanced social relationships. So my vote goes to natural grass.

I love real grass so much more. It is so much better than any old fake grass.If someone came to your house and asked you how you kept your grass so green it would be really embarrassing to say "oh that's fake grass"

Sweetestpony, I agree and don't. My husband and I were in a bargain centre a few days ago (owners buy end lots, etc, for resale in their shop) and they had a huge roll of faux turf - which was amazingly good! If bargain faux turf is that good, the better quality stuff must be so real it would 'fool a dog'.

I think there are places fake grass is appropriate - a holiday home, a stubborn patch in the home garden, or as a temporary fix during a reno or do-over where the project is going to take quite a while.

The stuff we saw the other day looked so good my husband is considering it for our near postage stamp sized front garden instead of the gravel (think small rocks, lol) out there just now. The gravel is UGLY, maintaining it now the 20+yo landscape barrier is failing is becoming harder and harder, and last weekend we caught a couple of younger teens throwing rocks at each other - rocks that clearly came from the bed along the currently gate-less front drive. Yes, we're putting up a gate there but that's another month down the reno-road.

So that faux grass is looking better and better - it's thick enough that it would act as a weed barrier, too!

We currently have real grass but it's a pain with the dogs. Are house is for sale, so we will be defiantly be getting artificial

Since California is facing one of the most severe droughts on record, I am inclined to say artificial grass. However, I have a feeling my dog would vote the other way. #BeSeenBeSafe

I have my doubts about artificial grass, but I am considering for a small area of my backyard. One thing for sure: no real grass that needs tons of real water. We live in California, and things are getting ugly when it comes to water. I'm exploring the different types of artificial grass to find out which one is good (if any) for people and my dogs. Otherwise, my backyard will be a combination of bark, rocks, sand, etc.

Why not limit the grass area and do a more Zen-like area? Rocks, stones, pebbles, sand, gravel, and more are there to be used rather than grass. Treat the grass like a doggy or kitty potty space or a mini spa area rather than cover everything with grass.

Where grass grows naturally (abundant water, plenty of sun) lawn is best. choose of course a native kind and do not mow every week. In deserts, do xeriscaping and should you need a lawn, by all means go artificial. IN shady spot, nothing beats the beauty of moss.

Preamble: please pardon me if this comment resembles a novel. ;-P

First off, anyone else notice or can anyone else explain this strange incongruity: According to the poll, more people prefer natural grass, but more people in the comments seem to prefer artificial. Strange. *shrugs*

rredpen, the first thing to do if you have pets is to install ZeoFill, which is an infill that absorbs pet odors. There's not much else you have to do over and above that. Naturally, solid matter will have to be removed manually, but liquid excretions will drain straight through the grass if you have a Global Syn-Turf petgrass, which has augmented permeability. If you don't have ZeoFill, the next best thing you can do is spray the turf down with a hose when necessary and use Simple Green, a degreaser, to remove any pet remnants. There are a plethora of advantages to installing artificial grass if you're a pet owner. They are:
1. Global Syn-Turf grasses are designed to withstand daily, high-traffic pet usage.
2. It won’t stain, retain odors, attract ticks, fleas and other pests, and obviates the need for pesticides and fertilizers that are harmful to your pet.
3. Extremely durable and highly resistant to force -- no more holes in the lawn from your dog's digging.
4. Requires no maintenance, free up more leisure time for you to enjoy playing with your pet
5. Creates a comfortable, safe, cushioned surface and environment for pets to train, play and relax.
6. Global Syn-Turf’s proprietary Flo-Rite-Thru technology augments drainage capacity
7. No chemicals necessary for cleaning
8. Antimicrobial and hypoallergenic
9. Saves water and money
10. No more muddy paws or sand getting dragged into the home
11. Invulnerability to chlorine contamination -- your pet can move directly between the pool and the grass and no grass discoloration or death will result

Below is a photo of a canine friend enjoying our grass in California and a video of our state-of-the-art drainage technology. He can't even tell it's not real grass!

Curt D'Onofrio, I think artificial grass would be really congenial to your needs, especially in the areas you're struggling to grow real grass in.

ambersarris, got any pictures of that laundry courtyard? Would love to see them.

Mary, revmormor, phidauex, Jan Shomaker, joykulman, and karelina, the only problem with covering your yard with native plants is that you can't play catch with your son or frisbee with your dog on a yard covered with plants.

David Wilkes Design and Alan Bernstein, you can spray the turf down with a hose or sprinkler if it gets too hot. You may also want to consider our W-Shape blade, which measures 15 degrees cooler than any other synthetic turf on the market.

lincolnlover, you'd be surprised how far artificial grass has come in the past years. Many of our customers can't perceive the difference between our products and the real thing.

Rebecca Hite Real Estate, Huntington Properties, have you heard about this: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/27375/20150120/study-incriminates-manicured-lawns-as-significant-contributor-to-greenhouse-gasses.htm?

R+Solid Land Design, thanks for the very helpful information!

Barbara Larson, it certainly does stand up to dogs! That's one of the prime reasons people choose to install it -- no more holes and dead grass in the yard, and no mud in the house!

carmardel and Heidi, when you tally the costs of maintenance, cleaning, mowing and fertilizing incident to the ownership of a natural grass lawn, and then compare that with the initial cost of installing a synthetic grass replacement, the synthetic grass pays for itself in savings many times over in the long run. So, yes, it's not cheap, but at least it's less expensive than owning a natural grass lawn, right? For further illustration, take the city of San Diego, for instance, one of the most expensive cities in the country. Its residents looking to save money and conserve resources amidst a statewide drought have been enticed to adopt artificial turf because of its relative economy compared with the high expense and liability of owning a natural grass lawn -- dispelling the misconception that artificial grass is unaffordable.

Alan Bernstein, artificial grass is used in small city parks all the time. Here's an example, http://www.globalsynturf.com/images/art/225_801_Oklahoma%20City-2.jpg.

eclecticedwardian, great points. An interesting corollary of what you're talking about is that there are some byproducts that could potentially result from the rejection of the belief in the "perfect" lawn, namely obesity and domestic alienation; the former because of a diminished amount of opportunity for engaging in physical activity, and the latter because of a diminished amount of opportunity for engaging in family bonding activities.

Learn more at http://www.globalsynturf.com, message me on here, call us at 877-796-8873, or email us at mail@globalsynturf.com.

I have seen some very lovely alternatives to a grass lawn. Artificial grass on the other hand does bring with it the question of upkeep. I might consider using artificial grass on a small area where, if needed it might be replaced easily. However I still remember with distaste the artificial grass that Mayor Yorty had placed on the lane dividers in L.A. because allegedly they were easier to maintain.

Uhhhhh I take real please!

location matters for this question

I don't want either, personally. I'm trying to attain a mix of pavers, brick, gravel and little vegetable/flower beds so I'll have no lawn worries anymore. I do wonder: if the artificial stuff is impervious to water, it will contribute to runoff plus creating big dead zones underneath. That doesn't seem any more environmentally responsible to me than big chemical-loaded, thirsty lawns.

In my opinion, artificial turf? Never. Read more about why I believe it is bad for Nature and bad for children: http://bit.ly/1kd2w3I.

I think fake grass all the way! No pesticides, wasting water, gas, fumes, and time. Looks better too.

I live in southern Utah where water is a precious commodity. Although I love green and nature - I'm originally from Vermont - using water for lawns here seems egregiously wasteful. So I have xeriscape with gravel, plants and drip system in the front (with desert plants) and artificial turf with a few desert plants, such as agaves, in the back. The green makes a pleasant departure from the desert. Easy on the eyes.

Real is nice but it depends on who takes care of the mowing , we have very little of it .

grass is not "green"

Artificial grass is becoming extremely popular in areas like Arizona where it is near impossible to grow grass. If you are interested in the cost or have any questions we would be happy to help answer them. Call us at (480) 586 - 0655 or visit us at www.ParadiseGreens.com

Keep it real! The feel beneath ones feet and smell of freshly cut grass can not be replicated.

It all depends, but I have seen some amazing fake grass!

Miami Interior Designer - http://www.charlesneal.com

My cat eats grass....it is necessary for a cat's digestion and it also is how a cat cleans their teeth. Turf just won't do it unless I also have a raised bed with grass and plants just for the cat. Also, I have trees that drop a lot of leaves...and I couldn't mow them up easily if I had turf instead of lawn. And I'm not so sure that turf wouldn't "melt" or "fade" when it gets to be 100-105 degrees outside. And if I lived in a snowy place...I doubt that fake grass would wear well there either.

Global SYN Turf....I have been to San Diego many times...have relatives there...and maybe I haven't been in the neighborhoods where you have installed fake grass because I have never seen it in any neighborhood that I have been in. What I see is people choosing smaller yards or more concrete. It might be nice to have artificial turf if you want a small putting green in your yard. However, I grew up with sheep, a goat, rabbit, parrots, several dogs, chickens in a chicken pen, and now I have a cat. And we kept the sheep and goats in a separate yard than the lawn and the chickens had their own enclosed area. But there has never been a problem with having real grass and having dogs and cats. My cat needs to eat grass for his digestion and thats also how cats clean their teeth. My dogs were trained to go to the bathroom in one corner in the garden area so the lawn wasn't dirty. Maybe some places need to restrict water use but not all people everywhere need too. And how are you saving water if you have to cool down the fake turf on hot days using cold water? And when the turf wears out it goes to the garbage dump. Grass is natural and won't harm the planet by ending up in the garbage dump. And does raking the leaves off the lawns or using the lawn mower to pick up the leaves damage the turf? Because I refuse to live in a neighborhood where I have to wake up hearing people using their blowers to get rid of the leaves from the trees...and possibly blow their leaves into my yard. Some kinds of fake turf are nice to look at...but if you want to play and lay on it it's not like the real thing.

Lobal SYN Turf....I have NEVER used any chemical or anything on my grass lawn. My cat lays in it, eats grass, etc. so I would never use any chemical that could harm my cat. My cat can't eat turf. And there may be chemicals in fake grass. And if neighbors never spend time outdoors working on their yards, they are less likely to get to know one another. Unless they watch sports together....but I hate watching sports. As for the "perfect lawn" there is no such thing. As long as it is green and kept tidy that is all that matters.

Synthetic Turf Installation is so advanced these days, it's hard to tell what is real and what is fake! Artificial Turf Installation has really taken a leap forward in the last few years!

I really dislike the carefully manicured look of most natural lawns and artificial does not make them any better.

A little patch of grass for ornamentation is about the extent of my approval range. A gravel drive in front and some expanse of green off to the side with sheep as appears in some old pictures of England is alright but living grass mowed to look like artificial turf just looks like artificial turf.

Maybe I missed it, but I can't believe no one mentioned any of the drought-tolerant native grasses that are available these days! Plastic grass, ugh—bad for the earth, bad underfoot. Please look into the many drought-tolerant, native grasses that have been developed to save lots of water and still look (and feel) good, dogs or no dogs.

Check out these resources:

https://www.ucverdeplugs.com/

and

https://www.sunset.com/garden/garden-basics/plant-no-mow-lawn

and

https://www.latimes.com/home/la-hm-drought-grass-html-20150723-htmlstory.html

I have a hard time accepting artificial turf, but here in California the water bills are killing me. About half the front yards in my neighborhood are brown dead grass. The real choice is becoming dead brown grass vs artificial turf. I'm considering artificial for my back yard.

How about no grass? I currently have grass but I'm trying to slowly replace it with native plants and a vegetable garden.

totally agree. grass is NOT "green"

I agree with Mittens Cat; not all grass is evil, and native grasses are an important component of meadows and native ecosystems - and they don't require nearly as much water as imported turfgrass.  The problem here is that native grasses aren't easily walked on as they form clumps instead of carpets (which are stiff and pokey when mowed short), so around our house we've been seeding clover.  It doesn't need mowing, it produces flowers that insects love and as a legume it improves the soil.  But as I fought tooth and nail to keep anything fake (i.e., pretentious) out of our new home - e.g., no mdf, no cement fiber, no "stone-look" tile, no engineered flooring - there's no way we'd have fake turf anywhere near this place.

I love the look of the perpetual green yard but it's awful with a dog. He doesn't like the feel of it, it gets extremely hot so hard on his feet, and the urine stinks so much it's disgusting. If I hadn't paid so much money to have it I'd rip it out. I spend way more time watering this fake lawn than I ever did on my real one. (trying to lessen the smell and cooling it down)

As a former “soccer parent “ I can’t get behind artificial grass. My daughter played on a beautiful new artificial grass field. For us watching it was a comfortable 84•degrees. For my daughter her feet were at 110. Degrees from the heat coming off the turf. We live in an area that can get to over 100. No way I’d put a dog on the 20 degree turf to 120.

https://justlikegrass.com/ Expect to pay $10+ a square foot.

We killed our lawn 15 years ago, as here in SoCal the importance of water conservation is all too evident. We just installed about 50 native plants, and though they look pretty scraggly now (to be expected), I'm told to expect a lovely pollinator paradise by next year.

But I saved the "front and center" of our backyard for a mini meadow of Calif. native grasses. The 1 pound bag of seeds (California Native No Mow Grass Seed Mixture) just arrived from Stover Seed Co. and I can't wait to see how it works out. We're going to mix the grass seed with some native wildflower seed. Granted, my wish is to attract wildlife, especially our local desert cottontail rabbits, so I'll be reseeding on a regular basis, I'm sure! :)

I used to shrug at the idea of native plants, but the more I learned about them and their importance to the local ecosystems, the more I was sold on giving it a try. You don't have to plant 50 of them or replace your lawn to make a difference. Even a few native plants will benefit the environment, so I encourage everyone to give it a try. And if you're turned off because you think they look half dead for a good part of the year, please know there are many evergreen native plants as well (Ceanothus, for example).