Artificial/Synthetic Grass...Opinions?
 

Searched for a similar topic, but didn't find one, so thought I'd ask for opinions. (also not sure if GD, Knowledge, or Life was a better forum, so mods please feel free to move as you see fit :) )

My in-laws are unable to take care of their landscaping (one has dementia, the other is 85 years old). Recently, my father-in-law asked us about getting new sprinklers and sod put down in the front yard. This is a fairly expensive proposition, not to mention the maintenance costs of watering/mowing the final product. My wife asked about the possibility of laying down synthetic grass - which seems on the surface to be a decent idea, but I have no experience with it. I've done browser searches, and have found a roughly 50-50 split on people saying they like it vs. those that think it's not a good idea.

So...has anyone used a synthetic grass for their homes? Would you recommend it? Is it durable? Does it look any good? And if you like it, any recommendations as to manufacturers? I admit I am thinking it would look cheap, but I have not seen the product first-hand, and I *do* like the idea that it would allow my father-in-law to not have to worry about mowing and watering. Any experiences or opinions are appreciated, thanks!

Why not just replace the lawn with low/no-maintenance shrubbery and ground cover?

Edit: How big is the front lawn?

I thought this was going to be a thread on fake dope. :p

I took out the grass in front of my house and put in slate chippings - my house faces the sea and salt spray drift has always been a problem, so the grass was always yellow.

Depending on where they are, you may want to look at zeroscape instead. That's very popular in the Southwest and requires little or no maintenance since the few plants that are there require little water or maintenance. The rest of the beds are made up of rocks, sand or other natural materials.

None of the fake grasses I've ever seen look very lifelike up close, and a lot of them have trouble getting the color right. Now it could easily be that I've only seen the lower end stuff, so don't take that as gospel.

Please keep us updated. I'd love to hear what you decide to go with.

Thanks for the replies all!

The reason we were thinking of something with zero-maintenance is that the father-in-law is old and has trouble walking, so we'd like to minimize the work he has to do. He is also very frugal and meticulous in what he wants his front to look like, and our attempts to hire him a gardener have been met with resistance. I don't know the exact footage of the yard, but it is big enough that - at his age - he can spend a couple of days just mowing/edging/trimming.

The idea of shrubs/groudcover/rocks are an avenue that sound more appealling (at least to me), and I haven't heard about zeroscape, so we'll look into that as well. Thanks again, I figure it'll be a month or 2 before we decide and do it, but I will let you know what we finally settle on!

Jazz, I think you mean xeriscape.

Yep he did. Fortunately, Google still pointed me in the right direction even when I typed in "zeroscape". :) Lots of ideas using that methodology, it will take a while to figure out what will work for them.

But we've definitely discarded the fake grass idea.

When you say synthetic grass are you refering to astro turf? You may have just said that to begin with, but i wanted to be sure. I have some of the same questions. I heard about a new type of genetically created grass that grows like that "meteor shit" weed in the movie creepshow. It is said to be able to survive any climate and you only have to plant a few bulbs spaced out and it starts multiplying on its own.

It's the plastic stuff that I was referring to - every site I see about it refers to it as synthetic or artificial so that is what motivated me to post the topic that way. I have also seen articles regarding the (living) grass that are referring to, but I have no idea what the trade name is nor whether it works as advertised. Since we are probably going to have some grass in the area, it is also something I might consider if it is hardy and easy to grow :)