08/28/2026
LANDSCAPING TIP OF THE DAY!
Brown lawn. August heat. You think it's dead. It's just sleeping. And the worst thing you can do is wake it up wrong.
DORMANCY:
→ Cool-season grasses (Kentucky bluegrass, fescue, rye) go dormant in heat and drought
→ Blades turn brown but roots stay alive
→ Can survive 4–6 weeks of dormancy without irrigation
→ One good rain = green again in 3–7 days
→ This is a SURVIVAL strategy, not death
THE MISTAKE:
→ Light, infrequent watering breaks dormancy temporarily
→ Grass starts growing again using stored energy
→ Next dry spell hits before roots have recovered
→ The cycle of waking + re-stressing KILLS the grass
→ Either water 1 inch per week consistently OR don't water at all
WHAT NOT TO DO:
→ Don't fertilize dormant lawns (burns roots, wastes nutrients)
→ Don't mow below 3.5–4 inches (shocks recovering grass)
→ Don't apply herbicides during drought stress
→ Don't aerate or dethatch during dormancy
→ Don't panic — brown lawns are normal in August
THE ENVIRONMENTAL WIN:
→ A dormant lawn uses ZERO water
→ Typical lawn irrigation: 10,000–20,000 gallons per summer
→ During drought: outdoor water use restrictions exist for a reason
→ Your brown lawn is conserving water for the community
→ Your neighbor's green lawn in a drought? 20,000 gallons of drinking water on grass.
ALTERNATIVE:
→ Replace some lawn with drought-tolerant native ground covers
→ Clover, sedge, buffalograss (stays green with minimal water)
→ Reduce lawn area = reduce water use permanently
The brown lawn is the responsible lawn.
Leave it alone. It's fine. It's been doing this for millennia.
