Lawns

Jean Orban thought she had found a simple solution to her green grass quandary. The Garden Grove resident considered having a healthy, pretty lawn the mark of being a good neighbor -- plus, residents who let their lawns go brown can be fined by the city. But she wanted to spare her husband the Sunday morning ritual of mowing the lawn, and she thought it was a waste to use hundreds of gallons of water to keep the grass thriving. So she had an artificial lawn installed.

A jury Thursday convicted a man of murder for shooting a teenage neighbor who walked on his lawn. The jury deliberated less than four hours before finding Charles Martin, 67, guilty. Martin was tried on a charge of aggravated murder, but jurors convicted him on the lesser count of murder because they could not agree that the killing was planned. The defense didn't dispute that Martin shot 15-year-old Larry Mugrage Jr.

IT'S just grass, but don't tell Sheldon Lodmer, for whom the sight of a well-kept lawn borders on the transcendental. "It's very peaceful. It reminds me of openness and cleanness," says Lodmer, whose home in the hills above Malibu's Zuma Beach is fronted by an expanse of fescue roomy enough to field an NFL scrimmage. "There's just something about the look. It's very calming," says his wife Emily, gazing out from a second-floor window framing patches of brown rolling hills that lie beyond.

Style of turf. The first place to start is with the type of turf. Tall fescue is the most drought-tolerant of the main types of popular lawn grasses. Bahia, centipede or buffalo grasses also require less water. Cut higher. Cutting the blades higher, to 3 or 4 inches tall, can shade the soil's surface and reduce evaporation by 70% to 80%, according to Paul Tukey, author of "The Organic Lawn Care Manual."

EVERY city has its soundtrack. Venice has the slapping of water against stone, New York has car horns, Madrid has the vroom of mopeds. Here in our green, green city, one sound dominates life. No matter where you are, Bel-Air or Bellflower, you hear it intermittently from 7 a.m. to nightfall. It's there on Christmas, on the Fourth of July, on Halloween and Thanksgiving, and every day in between. It's the lawn mower. If you want to buy one, read on.

Eastbound pedestrians on the north side of Blackburn Avenue, a Prada bag's throw from the Beverly Center, amble past duplexes and small apartment buildings in a dense, trafficky neighborhood that buffers commercial thoroughfares from streets of single-family houses. After crossing Orlando Avenue, however, they may be surprised to find their ankles being gently brushed by California golden poppies, surreally transported from some arid springtime mountainside above Gorman.

HOMEOWNERS know that in one field of life, nothing less than perfection is acceptable. The rules of the lawn are very clear: no bare patches, Fido-induced brownouts, weeds, anemic blades or lusterless shades of green. The quest for perfect grass is grueling enough that some might sell their souls to get it. Deberoh Gruver did, and she couldn't be more delighted. The Riverside teacher's lawn is perfect 365 days a year.

Re "Head-first into hazardous waters," Opinion, April 25 Bill Stall needs to look at the world of Southern California: swaths of green lawns, lots of misdirected sprinklers and gutter runoff and uncovered swimming pools. That is why we need the water here in the south. Just like with oil, there is a finite amount to go around, and we need to be aware of that. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta's decline has been accelerating; it started when water deliveries to the south commenced and has dropped with each increase.

Re "In America, we reap what we mow," Opinion, May 20 Cancel the order for the spring and sell the power mower. Have the kids do what my friends and I did in the '50s when we mowed our parents' and neighbors' lawns: use a hand-powered mower. It is economical and ecologically sound (no gas needed), and when used, provides a good workout. Gary Nagy Gardena

Re "Yards of fake grass flaunt lawn and order," Aug. 9 I've noticed that a lot of local interest articles in The Times, including this article about artificial lawns and saving water, do not delve into all, or even most, of the relevant issues. For example, this article neglects and ignores the fact that artificial lawns are plastic. Made from petroleum, I'd venture. Aren't we trying to get away from petroleum use? Are these lawns recyclable? Will they end up in landfills or in animals' stomachs, causing wildlife to die?