Ecological concerns are an increasingly important aspect of modern life. The environmental impact certain actions, behaviors, and societal norms have on life have become a more prominent personal consideration. Monoculture grass lawns are small luxuries, requiring regular maintenance schedules that use motorized machinery, chemical fertilizers, and regular irrigation as a matter of course.Lawns are slowly being recognized as the unnecessary expense they are. Presenting eco-friendly, low maintenance, aesthetically pleasing lawn alternatives to households and public institutions alike may be more successful now than ever. One alternative to grass monoculture lawns is Dutch white clover (Trifolium repens) or varietals.By examining the effectiveness of a clover or clover-grass lawn in Miami University’s environmental conditions and the effect of lawn quality on opinion of an institution, we aim to show that an environmentally-friendly and aesthetically pleasing alternative to Miami University’s current lawn situation is both possible and desirable. It was found that white clover lawns outperformed grass lawns in every metric, even when given all the fertilizer and water it could want. People were apprehensive to white clover lawns at first, but were swayed when informed of the benefits. These results point to a positive shift in attitudes about lawns, and a path to a greener future.
Authors: Aaron Varghese, Heather Ciaramitaro and Melany Fisk
Advisor: Melany Fisk, Biology