the daily flashkube

I watched with amusement as trucks pulled on to the then dirt acreage with pallets and pallets of brown, seemingly dead, sod. I was sure the person in charge would take one look and send the drivers back to the soon to be out of business nursery from whence they came. When workers started actually laying down sheets of  it I was shocked. There was no way they could resurrect the grass in time for the grand opening. However, when the big day came the park was covered with a carpet so green you’d think they were about to shoot a Scott’s television commercial. Only later did I learn the green had been spray-painted on. It sounds crazy, but the practice is not uncommon, especially at golf courses.

This image was shot from my balcony looking down at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park just the other day. As you can see, the faux greenery has washed away and it once again looks patchy and brown. (To be fair, it looks much worse from above than at ground level.) Sod has always baffled and amazed me. As a child of suburbia, I’ve witnessed countless failed sod jobs. I suppose it’s not so different from transplanting trees, just with a ridiculously poor success rate.