On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 13:07:41 -0400, pelirojaroja wrote:
I agree, too. I'd replace lawn with "woodland" if it were me.
Unfortunately, convincing my 70+-aged parents to tear out most of their lawn
would take an act of God. They'll either have to get a good riding mower or
hire a lawn service, since my siblings and I live away. I just wanted to
give them some good recommendations. My dad would rather do it himself, if

Yet another thought, though I don't know how it would work on their terrain...
how about one of the robotic mowers? My husband's boss, who wants a lawn
but hates mowing (?!?!?) is happy with a Toro iMow
(http://www.toro.com/home/mowers/imow/) -- however, it does only about 5000
sq ft (.11 acres) on a battery... so you'd either have to swap batteries
or have it buzzing around almost every day.

Any chance of persuading them to substitute buffalo grass or similar low-
growing grass for much of the conventional lawn? e.g. EcoLawn, Turtleturf,
etc.? That would cut the mowing down to about once a month.

What's the terrain like, and are your folks sensible about balance and slope?
The previous owners of our house (who bought the Deere) were an elderly
couple who had disconnected all the safety switches on it, and there was
clear evidence they'd been mowing some pretty steep bank on the cross-slope,
all accidents waiting to happen. My mom has a pretty big lawn, and I'm
delighted she chose to hire someone to mow for her when the push mower
got to be too much, as I don't think I'd want to see her mow the back
bank on a riding mower!

Kay Lancaster