What caused monoculture grass lawns to become the norm in many places? What were lawns like before this transition?
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Lawns originated in medieval times as clearings around castles. You can’t have trees or brush right up to the castle or won’t see the enemy. So they got cut down and short-ish grass put in so no one could hide. They were often used for grazing so weren’t as manicured.
Lawns stayed as hybrid grazing fields in the Middle Ages but were also frequently around the homes of very wealthy landowners and there was still an element of security involved. See the transition from castles to manors.
Some places called ‘lawns’ are still more or less just tightly grazed pastures, which look quite a bit like a modern lawn.
This influence transitioned in the lawn in the 17th century, when the concept of the decorative garden (pulled from France) and the walkway and gathering spaces made from plants (grass is the best plant for foot traffic, and creates a fairly uniform surface). Versailles is somewhat credited with one of, if not the first purely decorative garden lawn. This became a big trend among wealthy landowners and took off in England. This love was exported to America and used among the wealthiest Americans. Some founding fathers had lawns.
Lawns were the domain of the ultra wealthy for a long time as they had to be cut manually which was labour intensive. Having a lawn was a big sign of status, because it wasn’t productive land. Some early parks were in place in urban areas, and lawns were the style particularly in the UK.
The lawn mower’s invention in the 1830s changed the game by opening up what was the domain of the really rich to the only fairly rich. It also opened up more options for grassy playing surfaces and encouraged the growth of sports during the Victorian era.
Lawns were still a big flex but became more common, then as the 20th century appeared the suburbs rose. North America was the epicentre of this due to having lots of cheap land, and wealthier people went to live on it. Lawns were seen as both a landscape aesthetic and as a practical item – places for children to play and people to gather. They also went in hand with setback rules – homes had to be set back from the road for a couple of reasons (driving visibility, walking safety, aesthetic) and lawns filled that gap.
Lawns were still a northeast thing due to weather and limited plants but enhancements in irrigation let it be more of a thing in drier regions of the south.
They were also associated with well-kept landscaping and tended to enhance property values over wild or other land. The modern suburb continues this trend, though we’ll see if it sticks.
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