Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
My son is trying to decide on what to accept from a menu of services the lawn care guy gave him. I advised him on the minimum, no "weed and feed" no grub control, no broadleaf or crabgrass control. Make sure the blade is 3 inches high and do not bag the clippings. Let the neighbors hate me and my family. My son tells me the kids sometimes literally eat the grass, so I'm more concerned about them and the pollinators who will thank me for the dandelions and clover.

Site selection is very important when introducing plantings for sure.. I agree with you there. But in general both silver maples and sugar maples absorb CO2, provide shade and habitat for birds, and are so much more attractive than a parking lot aesthetic.
keeping grass long is good for it, true. This reminds me of a small world story from years ago:

Our garden was on garden tour for our neighborhood’s annual house and garden tour. DH always kept the grass high because he was in that business. One of the men coming through our yard on the tour remarked aloud “this grass is high, that’s what my lawn guy says I should do to mine” and he looked up to see DH, his lawn guy! The tour guest was one of DH’s customers.p who lived on a big property out in the county.

DH once observed that in his company’s customer base, the lower the Socio economic status ( as judged by perceived value of their real estate) the more chemicals the customer wanted poured onto their lawn. The higher the Socio economic status of the customer, fewer chemical treatments were wanted. But when a favorite planting was diseased they were all for pouring on all treatments, spare no expense and hang environmental impact.

My neighbor up the street still has an American Elm she gets treated regularly. It survives.