Perhaps your landlord could be persuaded that a “test bed” of native grasses in one corner of the back yard is reasonable. You might even segregate the test bed from the lawn with some type of border to signal that the test bed is deliberate and not merely unmowed lawn or a neglected garden. Native plants have often (like those plants we tend to classify as “weeds”) evolved deeper rooting structures, so they thrive when grass needs watering. (Now there's an argument to make to your landlord: Native grasses will lower the water bill.) The native corner might attract some colorful insects too, which, along with the flowering portions of the plants, provide visual entertainment. Hmmm...might even divert attention from the rest of the lawn(!)
This could reduce the amount of “traditional” lawn that demands monocultural rigidity and intolerance of diversity. (Quoted from, “The Social Science of American Lawn Care.”)
