Amid Drought, Homeowners 'Fix' Lawns With ... Paint

Is your lawn wilting into a brown wasteland because of the drought? Consider a paint job. That's the solution many are relying on to give their dead yards the look of blooming green life as the worst drought in decades parches a huge expanse of the US. One New York City resident paid $125 to have her dried-up grass painted with a green organic dye. "It looks just like a spring lawn, the way it looks after a rain," she tells AP. "It's really gorgeous."

The drought has spread across two-thirds of the country now, and inhabitants of usually lush regions are adopting the grass-painting technique that has been used for years in the West and Southwest. The dyed grass retains its new color for a few months, says a contractor, and "it's a night-and-day difference." (More grass stories.)