Yes, that's right, you read that correctly. In Colorado , surrounding your house with a vast sea of high-maintenance green is silly. A patch of lawn where your kids can play makes perfect sense. A strip of grass surrounding your back patio can be practical. But I believe most of you would have chosen something other than bluegrass had you been given better options.

The late comedian and gardening expert Cassandra Danz, in her book Mrs. Greenthumbs: How I Turned a Boring Yard into a Glorious Garden and How You Can, Too points out that America is one of the few countries in the world today where grass is used as the primary landscape itself. But of course....only in America.

"A lawn is, ecologically speaking, a desert," writes Cassandra. "No flowers bloom, no food is produced, no birds sing. Grass manufactures only a fraction of the oxygen that trees growing in the same spot would produce." And how foolish is it that we water, fertilize and apply pesticides all season long, just so we can keep this green pestilence at bay, week after week after week, literally mowing it to within an inch (or two) of its life? Let's be honest - none of us are going to host a PGA tournament on our property, so why torture our turf by cropping it putting green short? I consider mowing the lawn the gardening equivalent of cleaning the toilet . It isn't something I look forward to, but it has to be done.

So how did we get to here? Some of the blame can be placed on the introduction of the power lawn mower. Prior to their arrival in the 1950s, only push-mowers were available, and patches of grass were small, simple, functional accents to a home's landscape. If you owned a large parcel of land, a great majority of it was devoted to trees, shrubs, low maintenance ground covers, and perennial and vegetable gardens. Automatic irrigation systems also have to take some of the responsibility. Dragging a hose on a hot summer day isn't anybody's idea of fun, and tends to encourage one to look at any plant material other than turfgrass. And while we are pointing fingers, how about the developers, homebuilders and lawn chemical industries, who have supported the creation of "Generica the Beautiful"? Any homeowner in America can have a grass lawn, and in fact, does. Doesn't anyone here believe in individuality?

We are endangering our future water supply here in Colorado, insisting on massive areas of turf. On average, lawns account for more than 50 percent of home water use. It is time to think about your yard in a new way:

If you don't walk on it, you DON'T need it in bluegrass!

And yes, I know, there is always some wise guy out there that will tell me they walk on their grass every week...when they are mowing the lawn. Please consider the alternatives, as there are many out there. Attend a Xeriscape class; check out a book at the library on water-wise landscaping; watch that Xeriscape DVD you received in the mail from Douglas County this past April. Do something to educate yourself, and then take action!