Since the last big California drought from 1988 to 1993, lots of people have wondered if it was possible to replace that monotonous, consumptive contrivance called a lawn. After all, that bright green lawn is a carry-over from wetter English and East Coast gardens. To keep them going in California's climate requires water, fertilizer, and a weekly mow and blow by noisy, polluting machines.

Although some adventurous gardeners have tried lawn substitutes such as yarrow, a perennial herb, only one gardener I can think of has actually planted no-mow meadows that might someday rival lawns in popularity.

Horticulturist John Greenlee of Pomona has planted a number of what he calls "natural lawns" and meadows. He recently supplied the meadow plants for the new garden at the Norton Simon Museum of Art in Pasadena. This naturalistic design by Santa Monica designer Nancy Goslee Power opens to the public Oct. 2.

Greenlee, 44, is a genuine grass guru, having literally written the book on the subject, "The Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses" (Rodale, 1992), although nowadays he may be better known as one of the hosts on the HGTV series "Grow It!" and the new "Way to Grow" on the same cable network. He also runs a wholesale nursery of grasses and grass-like plants, such as sedges.

At this point, nothing yet rivals an ordinary grass lawn for cheaply covering ground. Seed and sod are readily available and relatively inexpensive, and just about anyone can care for a grass lawn.

But the meadow idea is promising. When a client asked landscape architect Raymond Hansen of San Diego for meadow-like areas in his new Hermosa Beach garden, Hansen consulted with Greenlee.

"Greenlee's meadow plants have a soft and natural quality that isn't found in other landscape forms," Hansen said. "And hopefully they'll have lower maintenance requirements as well."

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Greenlee became interested in grasses and meadows as a kid growing up in Orange County. He mowed lawns on weekends and spent summers in the San Bernardino Mountains at Camp Ahwahnee with Brea Boy Scout Troop 1. As an Eagle Scout, then as a counselor teaching the nature badges, it was hard to miss the dramatic contrast between the barren, newly planted Orange County gardens he mowed, and the lush and varied mountain meadows he hiked through.