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Plentiful sunshine. High 92F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph..

Clear skies. Low 59F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.

Plentiful sunshine. High 92F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph..

Clear skies. Low 59F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.

Artificial grass has its place, but maybe not in your landscape.

Some people consider it sustainable because it does not require water, fertilizers and pesticides. However, it is plastic, and it will degrade over time and end up in the dump. It can get very hot in summer and, because it is plastic, it has no biological activity. This means you may need to spray a disinfect on your grass occasionally, especially if a visiting animal fertilizes your lawn.

Artificial grass does not take in carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen like living plants. It does not do another beneficial biological activity, thus making your soil sterile.

Artificial grass is great if you need practice putting green or want to lawn bowl. A very small patch could be a good bathroom stop for your dog, but it will need to be cleaned and disinfected.

If you are taking the easy way out and covering your landscape with just decorative rock or decomposed granite, you might make a very hot landscape. If we are thinking of climate change, dark colors absorb heat and makes the earth hotter, light colors reflect the heat back into the atmosphere. Similar to artificial grass, it becomes very hot in summer, and it has no biological activity.

It has a couple more disadvantages over artificial grass. It allows more weeds to grow and, depending on the size of the rocks, it can be hard to clean leaves or trash.

I am not advocating going back to grass, but to be sustainable and environmentally friendly. How about planting native or what I call near-native plants? I define native plants as plants that are native to the region of California that we live in. A lot of people define natives as plants that grow in California.

The climate of California varies from warm coastal regions to cold coastal regions to semi-arid regions to desert regions. Don’t forget the mountains, streams and many more that I have not named. Within this region’s plants can be very different, native plants from the low desert may not grow in the high desert.

I define near-natives as plants that grow in similar climates from other parts of California, western United States and the rest of the world. Near-native plants may need a little more water than our natives. Many people just don’t like the looks of our native plants, but with a little water many of these plants grow fuller, flower better and look like more traditional landscape plants. I am not talking about lots of water, just a little water once a month during the summer.

If you like the idea of natives or near natives we have a hidden secret in the Antelope Valley. The secret is The Antelope Valley Resource Conservation Nursery. They grow native plants and near-native plants. If you drive Highway 138 toward Victorville, you may have noticed newly planted native plants on the sides of the highway. These plants were grown at the nursery.

The nursery is having its fall plant sale from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Oct. 22. The nursery is at 10148 West Ave I.

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