Landscaping companies have an opportunity to discuss options with clients about reducing their lawns and installing low-maintenance landscapes that work with nature rather than against it.

“There are other ways to do the job. Landscaping used to be more than scorched earth cleanup.”

– Jamie Banks, the founder of Quiet Communities,

Download: Sample Letter for Landscapers to Customers

This sample letter is available for landscapers download and edit to help educate their customers about the impacts of the leaf blower ban to manage their expectations about adopting more sustainable land management practices.

The shift in public opinion on cigarettes serves as a powerful example of how societal norms can change once harmful truths come to light. For decades, tobacco companies poured enormous sums into suppressing evidence of its devastating health effects. Harmful land maintenance practices are similarly going the way of the cigarette. An increasingly educated public will demand that the industry adapt.

• If you can’t reduce your lawn, ask your landscaper to use a mulching mower and leave the grass at least 6″ high.

• Cool season grass does not need to be mowed at the height of summer. Just say no to mowing.

• Give your landscaper more business! Ask them to reduce your lawn and install garden beds with a cheaper, lower maintenance groundcover or even native grasses (that don’t need mowing) that can retain some of the leaf cover to provide habitat, suppress weeds, retain moisture, and boost nutrition. Start small. Every little bit helps!

“Yes, actually, leaves are good for lawns. A layer of leaves left to break down over the course of the late autumn, winter, and into the spring can be a great source of nitrogen and other nutrients for the grass.”

~Architectural Digest