Jason Robie: Replacing grass with hardscaping benefits environment and resale value

I'm visiting some friends in Colorado this week. I would have written today's article sooner, but I was busy shoveling! Fort Collins got another 4 inches of the white stuff (and yes, it IS April 30 as I write this!). Turns out Colorado's weather is just as persnickety as New Hampshire. That said, I love the snow, and it will be more seasonable soon enough. I mention the weather because last weekend I was out trimming some wayward bushes and mowing the lawn.

One of my favorite things to do in the spring, as you may have assumed, is tidying up the yard. As I was mowing and raking, I was reminded of a parable I heard eons ago. The gist of it was that God had provided us with plants that could grow in almost any soil, provide food for us and other animals and need no maintenance. In response, we humans poisoned those plants in favor of a lush green lawn. We pay to kill the other plants. We pay to trim the clippings from the grass. And then we pay to water our lawns so it will grow nicer so we can pay more to throw those clippings away. For an intelligent species, we're really pretty dumb.