# Get Off My Lawn  ## Episode metadata - Episode title: Get Off My Lawn - Show: Sidedoor - Owner / Host: Smithsonian Institution - Episode publish date: 2022-06-29 - Duration: 29:44 - Episode URL: [Open in Snipd](https://share.snipd.com/episode/a39d3287-8726-4e1a-a10d-1848e07087d7) - Show URL: [Open in Snipd](https://share.snipd.com/show/fa9f2106-4050-4379-b8f0-ab3877b94867) - Export date: 2026-02-17T23:32:21 ## Snips ### [The History and Meaning of America's Perfect Lawn](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b03e949c-8b03-4dde-ab30-a7b88a02b786) 🎧 00:00 - 05:15 (05:15) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/a7540449-31f0-48fb-97fa-02cae8ceac4d" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> 1. The lawn at the Smithsonian is a perfect example of a lawn that is officially too perfect to walk on, but is still enjoyed by visitors. 2. It takes a lot of work to maintain a lawn that looks so perfect. 3. The lawn is a symbol of American culture and history. #### 📚 Transcript This is Side Door, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX. I'm Lizzie Peabody. It's a beautiful morning for a stroll in the grass, and not just any grass. So in front of me is the Capitol building, behind me is the Washington Monument. And in between it's just huge swaths of green, like a big green soft carpet. It's the kind of grass that makes you want to kick off your shoes. That's me wiggling my toes. The smell of fresh cooked grass in summertime takes me right back to childhood. Summer evenings when it stayed light after dinner, and I could go outside with my brothers and play. And we come back in all sweaty and itchy from tumbling around in the grass of our yard. Here on America's front yard, you'll find people all summer long, snapping photos, tossing frisbees, playing kickball, reading, sunbathing. And in spite of all the wear and tear it gets, the National Mall is the poster child for the All-American lawn. All the same green, all the same height, not a weed in sight, soft, fuzzy, a little bit damp. It's nice. But what does it take to make a lawn that looks so perfect? I knew just who to ask about this, because just a few paces away. Go past the carousel, past this little fountain next to the castle, and through the gates of the Haupt Garden, tucked behind the Smithsonian Castle is Jeff. Hey Jeff! Jeff Schneider is the deputy director of Smithsonian Gardens, but I have also heard him called the turf king, and one of the many patches of grass Jeff reigns over is the partare. A lawn so flawless it is officially too perfect to walk on, but you can't stand in front of it. Everyone wants to stand in front of the partare and get a picture of their family with the castle in the background. So that is kind of our Kodak moment for visitors here at the Smithsonian. But a picture-perfect lawn requires a lot of work. First there's mowing and edging, aerating, which is punching holes, overseating, and then we follow that up with lawn fertilizer to help the grass grow and herbicides to keep the wrong stuff from growing. Mainly broadleaf weeds. Of course then there's regular watering and then because of the moisture. We do do a few fungicide treatments throughout the summer. Jeff estimates it takes about 90 hours of work and 72,000 gallons of water to keep the partare green year round. And this patch of lawn is only about as big as a basketball court. But the partare is like its own work of art. Its value lies in how it makes you feel. To me it kind of gives me a cooling effect and a relaxing effect just from the carpet of green. Yeah, it kind of looks straight out of a painting. Well thank you, I'll take that as a compliment. Yes. Americans do a lot for the love of the lawn. Humans extend from Maine to California to Florida, including many places where grass would never naturally grow. And each year Americans spend 20 trillion gallons of water on lawn care. Turfgrass is one of America's largest crops, but it doesn't feed us. So why do we go to all this trouble for something that doesn't make sense economically or ecologically? This time on Side Door we go digging into the past to find out how the aesthetic of the perfect lawn became so deeply rooted in the American psyche. And what our lawns say about us, historically and today. That's coming up after the break. Do you ever feel like you and a friend are speaking past each other? Or that you're not sure how to break out of a rut? I didn't know what to do at all. I lost a part of myself. I'm Shankar Vedantam, host of the podcast Hidden Brain. We explore questions that keep you up at night. I would go out on the backyard at three in the morning and scream my head off like a wild animal. --- Created with [Snipd](https://www.snipd.com) | Highlight & Take Notes from Podcasts