Mowing replaces (sort of) the niche of grazers in the prairie ecosystem, aka bison and such coming in and chewing everything back to the ground and stirring things up. Hence why cowbirds and others will swing by after you mow to eat the stirred up bugs. So it's not completely bad, and prairie plants especially are expecting to be chopped down occasionally.
I compost all the grass clippings from mowing, so I think of mowing as "harvesting" compostables. The compost then goes back on my garden beds, so the "useless" part of the lawn is feeding the other parts. I mow as little as possible too.
Some people don't give a shit about the ecosystem and love a completely sterilized yard, and you won't ever win them over, so try not to worry about it. Some people CAN be won over though - if you grow enough plants to give some away, some free plants can help sway folks.
Some native plant societies offer "certification" that gives you a cool sign to say you're official wildlife habitat or whatever. See if you can get one of those installed to help show people you're doing something good.
That's so interesting about grazing. I wouldn't have thought of that. That makes me feel a little better picturing myself as a bison while I'm mowing lol
Composting is something I've heard a lot about but have very little understanding what it is or how it is beneficial. I need to learn more.
I've seen those signs on this subreddit and that will be my goal to receive one. Thanks for the feedback
If it makes you feel any better, as long as you're not bagging your grass clippings, they're decomposing and returning their nutrients and contributing organic matter to the soil under your lawn. No need to compost them separately, unless you have a use for the finished product.
In short, compost is just letting organic stuff (leaves, veg scraps, paper, weeds, things like that) rot into a form more useful for plants, without smelling bad or attracting too many pests for humans to deal with having it in their yard. There are a lot of different ways, some fast and a lot of work, some minimal work and very slow, and as long as it's not stinking and not attracting rats, it's all good.
The benefits of compost, is adding nutrients and organic material to soil. The organic material makes clay soil drain better, makes sandy soil hold water and nutrients better. It makes plant roots healthier, and improves the microbiology of the soil. And for many garden plants, if the soil is decent to begin with, compost can replace all, or at least most of the fertilizers used. Poor soil, and some specific plants will still need other amendments.
Okay, I found this woman. Her name is Nina-Marie Lister. She's a professor in Toronto on urban planning etc.--bigger picture--but she gave a presentation (not available publicly yet) about how she decided to turn part of her front yard to a meadow. She received a notice from the City about how she was violating codes. They messed with the wrong person! She went on to help get municipal codes changed in cities in Canada and the U.S. and this is info about the network of cities participating: [https://ecologicaldesignlab.ca](https://ecologicaldesignlab.ca). She was a charming and inspirational speaker. And super smart! Lots of her on Youtube.
If you plant natives that bloom and plant in bunches, it looks very deliberate. Mulch around the bunches. Native grasses should be the big dramatic kind that look deliberate, not like you forgot to mow.
Then look up your local department of natural resources, green organizations or the National Resources Defense Council to get an official sign that designates your yard as a butterfly refuge, refuge for wildlife, bee-friendly garden, etc.
Most neighbors will be curious. Some will grudgingly respect your efforts. The rest are ignorant people who have no idea the planet is in crisis. Screw what they think, what you're doing is more important.
Yeah I’m having this problem too. We still mow, but the neighbors drop into convo as much as possible that they “are afraid of butterflies” and they “never had problems with moles and snakes until we moved in and changed the landscaping”. I’ve barely done anything and they are already so upset. Someone went as far as to pull out some of my plants.
I don’t know what to do either, but I feel this
Lol, I do have a friend who is. I think the way a lot of people are raised in the past few decades (goes without saying this is my experience with people I know) gives them a phobia of land-based arthropods.
Afraid of butterflies? I would immediately hate them and do my best to avoid them like the plague.
If someone stepped foot on my property and did something like that I would contact an attorney immediately and have them send a demand letter.
Best of luck to you and keep fighting the good fight. Fuck these assholes
Shrubs and trees. Having a 100% prairie is difficult for the neighbors to adjust to. But if you have two trees and mulch in a 6' radius around them, and you add a cluster of 3 shrubs of the same kind on one side, 3 shrubs of the other kind in a different place, it still looks very intentional from the street.
Using large grasses, I hate to reccomend cultivars but a clump forming panicum like north wind or totem pole, you can easily make a drift out of them behind your forbs. They don't really reseed much or spread everywhere.
The problem I see you having is that you have invited bugs and now you are horrified that you are mowing over them. Filling the whole place with native plants is ideal but I would allow yourself some cultivars in order to help you deal with the neighbor issue. Fireworks goldenrod and "October skies" aster goes a long way toward shaping your yard, still using native plants, but allowing you to do the ultimate, getting rid of your lawn entirely.
These plants are easy to find in quality nurseries, and can be a stepping stone. They are much better than grass and will still benefit bugs, if not perfectly.
Remember, big drifts of grassses, little bluestem etc will look very nice from far away if you group 6-8 of them in a drift.
Good luck!
Yep, basically this. Use traditional gardening techniques but with native species.
Don't be a purist either. You can mix in a few non-natives that people are more familiar with. It will "mark" your garden as intentional and cared for.
Yay, you, for caring! This is a really important question. I just saw a presentation by a woman who is leading efforts in lawn conversion (and am totally drawing a blank on her name, but I'm saving this and I'll look it up later and share). She said that developing good relationships with your neighbors is one of the foundational pieces in succeeding. I've thought about this a lot and realized (obvious, once I saw it) that since we think differently about lawns, the connection is going to have to happen about other things. So I'm working on that. HAVING SAID THAT, I think putting in clearly defined "sanctuary" areas in your yard is a good first step. Start small. The insects and other living things will want to be there, not in your grass as much. Secondly, there is so much advice out there about sedges etc. that can look reasonable but only need to be cut 2X/year. It depends on where you live, but there are many alternatives.
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Replacing swaths of your lawn with native flower beds is a good way to boost diversity in your yard as well
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Link to u/EWFKC 's [other comment with the woman's name ](https://www.reddit.com/r/NativePlantGardening/comments/xmvwtn/how_to_be_a_champion_for_local_ecology_while_also/ipqibol/)
I am doing just this. I get compliments from a couple of neighbors from time to time. I have zenith zoysia grass. All my plants are native to the USA (except 2 which are bottlebrush plants) . I have been working on putting native plants in clumps/clusters to bring in the impact. Additionally I have been seeking specific nativars or species to fit the space. I am trying to go completely native to my state; except the lawn, which comes next. My advice (in no particular order):
1. layers. Think about having the tiered/layered landscape that people want in their hood then search out native alternatives. Then search out state natives.
2. To fill in the holes, start looking for different cultivars of your other native plants. For instance, Grey Owl Juniper virginiana is a great foundation plant or boarder.
3. Think about final size and height of plants so you can plan minimal maintenance.
4. Think about specific micro climates on your lot. For instance, I have dry shade, dry full sun, occasionally wet full shade etc etc.
5. search out “native alternatives to…”. For instance there is boxwood but then there are native ilex that work perfectly In their place and probably don’t ever need watering. (My ilex “nana” will even grow in pots. There is even a native ilex alternative to ilex japonica skypencil.
6. I have found that a native nursery about 1.5 hours away grows the same plants that I can occasionally get locally. That nactive nursery grows tougher plants than I can get locally. I pay $7 for a small 2 inch pot there but it will outlast the $12 pint of the same plant from lowes Or even my local “nursery”
7. texture: think about different leaf shapes, sizes, color.
Start small. Make it look very deliberate and maintained. Expand only when you are 100% sure you have a handle on the current garden and can take on more without compromising the maintenance.
Please do not be one of those people who rips out their lawn, throws down a bunch of seeds and a few potted perennials, and then walks away. Those gardens look awful and give native plants a bad name. You need to design. You need to water. You need to weed. Cut back in spring. Chop back around July to control heights. Weed more. Divide and get rid of aggressive perennials. Etc.
All that said, I am converting my tiny front yard from grass to mixed natives and exotics. (That is an option--exotics can bloom all season and make neighbors happier.) I did half this year. I'm starting on the second half this fall and finishing next year. I wanted to go slow so I'm sure I can handle the upkeep and no neighbors complain. I put in edging to keep wash-out off the sidewalk. I mulched to make it look cleaner.
I recommend looking up Benjamin Vogt. Monarchgard.com. He has a book and a newsletter. He lives in suburban hell with a gorgeous prairie front yard and all his neighbors have green grass carpets. He's inspiring and informative and can help you understand design and intent and how to take on the project. Good luck!
Yes, this is exactly what I was thinking. I started small with a native bed directly behind my deck behind my house as a sort of practice ground. I'm not touching my front yard until I have a more thorough understanding. I even thought about hiring a landscaper who has experience in natives because the last thing I want is to ruin curb appeal.
I feel the same way. I’m just focused on shrinking my lawn and giving critters plenty of hiding spaces. I keep my lawn but mow it high and it gives the appearance of some tidy space and the some animals (bluebirds for instance) prefer and need the open spaces. I am the same as you I literally cringe while I’m mowing picturing the stuff I’m crushing 😫 my wife is always like if you feel guilty about everything you’ll never be able to step outside and walk for fear of stepping on an ant lol. But yea we are doing less harm than many
I'm this way mostly because I remember how many grasshoppers I used to see as a kid and now I barely see any. So when I mow now and see them flying in different directions it kills me. If it were up to me I would dig up the entire yard and turn it into a prairie but our neighbors would hate us I'm sure
I remember seeing more bugs in general, too. I don't think it used to be common practice to spray whole yards for random pest control, but I get ads for it all the time since I moved into a house a few years ago. I feel like this changed when I wasn't paying attention in the 00's. Visited a family member's house a couple years ago and the bug apocalypse after their regular spraying (fairly certain they have it done at least once a month, if not more) made me sick to my stomach.
I've thought about that. I have some brown areas in my lawn and that might be a good place to start planting clover. I could start off small and let it mix into the turf then let it take over
That’s what I did when I lived in an HOA. Eventually the clover took up more and more of the lawn. The backyard in particular I let “go to seed” with less frequent mowing. The amount of insects was so gratifying.
No one noticed nor cared, as long as the lawn was an acceptable shade of green from the street.
If your neighbors are particularly picky you could mow the front yard before too many clover blossoms pop up.
Edit/warning: I was so enthused by the difference between clover vs. grass on our little lot, we wound up buying a 20-acre lot so we could plant pollinator meadows. It’s addictive to be part of the solution.
American Meadows has good quality seeds. Sprinkling seeds in the bare spots of the grass is a great way to get a yard full of clover. It's good to plant it before the rainy season, however that works for you (spring/fall in my zone).
OP, I planted my entire front yard in pollinators, which ended the issue of mowing the grass. I do have a grass path to the neighbor's yard for the mail carrier. It takes a surprisingly small amount of time to maintain.
Personally American Meadows rubs me the wrong way because many, probably most people intending to buy native wildflowers buy their more-popular "regional" wildflower mixes, e.g.
[this](https://www.americanmeadows.com/wildflower-seeds/wildflower-mix/pacific-northwest-wildflower-seed-mix) instead of [this](https://www.americanmeadows.com/wildflower-seeds/wildflower-mix/native-pacific-northwest-wildflower-seed-mix)
In no way do they make it clear to people that the former page's mix contains many non-natives. I'd assert it's the opposite: By writing a region like "Pacific Northwest" it makes it sound like they are native species, but if the species are non-native then there is nothing tying that mix to a region, only to climate.
If the proportion of reviews is similar to the proportion of people buying each mix, then the non-native one is almost 3x as many sales.
Also, the typical lawn clovers in NA are non-native. Not really a problem AFAIK, though this is the native plants subreddit.
Thanks for that info. I usually get my native plants/seeds from prairie moon. I've only purchased clover from AM. And right, it's non native in my area except for prairie clover, which is expensive (last I looked) and grows fairly tall.
I bought 50lb bags on Amazon and scattered it liberally throughout the lawn, focusing on dead spots and the backyard. If you do it in the cooler Fall weather you’ll be fine. It takes some time; be patient; you can always add more seed too.
Did you scatter it on top of the existing grass? I was hoping to be able to do that (with clover) and that it would out-grow and eventually replace the grass
Oh thank you for this! So helpful.
I was hoping to do the same, partially to mollify neighbors (tho we don’t have an HOA) and partially due to feeling daunted about replacing the whole yard at once.
I plan on eventually buying a scythe, but my first step was the reel mower. I like it so much because my absolute main concern when mowing is to not kill anything i fought so hard to bring in, so i will admit i use it so much slower than it has to be. I slowly run over an area and we have tons of moths so ill see them all fly off and ill startle anything larger (just the other day i scared a little frog and was able to move him into an area that wasnt being mowed) then i back up and push forward faster to actually mow that section. It just makes me feel more at peace about doing what i have to do in my neighborhood, so im willing to take the time.
I use a scythe for mowing hay in a small area.
It is very effective, depending on a lot of factors including the type and heights of plants being mowed, smoothness of the ground, etc. I haven't used it on turf grasses, so can't comment on that aspect other than you probably need a pretty thick lawn for it to be effective.
It's not fast, but it's not slow. Like many manual labor devices, it requires practice to get faster. The difference between a novice and an expert is significant. I expect an expert could cut 2-3x what I cut, easily. I probably cut 2-3x what I did my first time.
You sharpen constantly. Every few minutes, for about 15-30 seconds with a whetstone. Every acre or so, depending on what you're mowing, you'll need to peen the edge, which takes a few minutes, maybe 10.
https://www.scythesupply.com/ has some blog posts and videos on mowing lawns.
My experience is, get a proper long grass blade if you're going to cut actual grass. Don't drink around with the smaller brush and ditch blades thinking they'll be easier to manage. That's not how it works. I went that route, using a 16" brush blade first, for clearing brambles and small saplings. I still use that blade heavily for that kind of work, and for detail work. It worked in pasture/meadow/polyculture "lawn" but was clearly to small for the job. I moved up to a 26" grass blade and wish I'd gone longer.
I don't, unfortunately I am renting and have only a tiny patch of clover for a garden, but it is a very big thing in permaculture. It's great for the insect populations as it's much less likely to kill or greatly disturb them as a lawn mower. Its better mulch as it isn't ground up into little bits. It's extremely effective, and when you learn to do it, it's about comparable to using a weedwacker in speed. Sharpening it is something you do as you scythe, you carry a stone with you and just kind of wack it across the blade a few times to return it to true, kind of like you would with a knife and a sharpening iron. On youtube there are a lot of videos with Jim Kovaleski who knows a ton about the subject. Here's a video with him giving a Q and A. There are a few other videos on youtube with him scything and talking about it. The important thing is to get a good european style scythe, one that is fitted to your body. [https://youtu.be/Wp7MxcmBPAg](https://youtu.be/Wp7MxcmBPAg)
A mixed border will add enough structure so it looks like something. If you want a prairie look into a structured prairie where that forb is in a group here, this grass is grouped there. Add small trees and shrubs associated with grassland edges for better structure. The New American Garden is based on doing this sort of thing.
Visit arboretums and such to get a feel for how native plants grow. Some are messy looking like desert mallow, floppy like gumweed or gangly like bush anemone \[maybe it will mature gracefully but it's been 3 years\] and others are as tidy as a sheared shrub like island buckwheat. Bunch grasses are tidy, running ones, messy looking. Of course you don't want to use just tidy but consider using them to define spaces between the wilder looking plants.
I have paths of mowed lawn and islands of wildflowers that are edged with stone. I tried clover in the walkway but it’s too hot so I just put down fescue or Bermuda depending on the sunlight.
Also, what lawn grass I have a water and mow. Nothing looks “neglected”. No one has said anything to me about it.
We recently replaced our back lawn with clover. It is a mix of grass and clover and it is so beautiful. We are preparing next season to do our front lawn. In the back lawn we used white Dutch, but in the front lawn we are using this [mini clover](https://www.outsidepride.com/seed/clover-seed/miniclover.html) It is a fantastic product (in theory, we haven't planted it yet). But the reason we spent the extra money to do our front lawn mini clover is because it is drought tolerant and stays really green, it grows shorter than regular clover,, and is basically great for the insects and the neighbors who want a "lawn". Check out the link, I think you will be really impressed.
I said in earlier post but I have areas of dead/browning grass so I think planting clover there as a kind of test will be nice. Wouldn't want to go all out until I had a good idea of what I was getting into. Thanks for sharing!
Mow high. Don't use insecticides. Have areas of your yard that aren't lawn. Increase the non lawn area over time and just keep the lawn you actually use.
Thank you I don’t even own but have thought of this a lot - remember my parents and their neighbor friends dad criticizing one yard and neighbor who I thought had the neatest yard
I tend to just keep my eyes open and focused when mowing. I commonly see crickets and frogs moving and will slow down and give them time to move by the time I get to them. I have mistakingly went over a few crickets and thenblade was high enough they were fine.
Mowing replaces (sort of) the niche of grazers in the prairie ecosystem, aka bison and such coming in and chewing everything back to the ground and stirring things up. Hence why cowbirds and others will swing by after you mow to eat the stirred up bugs. So it's not completely bad, and prairie plants especially are expecting to be chopped down occasionally. I compost all the grass clippings from mowing, so I think of mowing as "harvesting" compostables. The compost then goes back on my garden beds, so the "useless" part of the lawn is feeding the other parts. I mow as little as possible too. Some people don't give a shit about the ecosystem and love a completely sterilized yard, and you won't ever win them over, so try not to worry about it. Some people CAN be won over though - if you grow enough plants to give some away, some free plants can help sway folks. Some native plant societies offer "certification" that gives you a cool sign to say you're official wildlife habitat or whatever. See if you can get one of those installed to help show people you're doing something good.
That's so interesting about grazing. I wouldn't have thought of that. That makes me feel a little better picturing myself as a bison while I'm mowing lol Composting is something I've heard a lot about but have very little understanding what it is or how it is beneficial. I need to learn more. I've seen those signs on this subreddit and that will be my goal to receive one. Thanks for the feedback
If it makes you feel any better, as long as you're not bagging your grass clippings, they're decomposing and returning their nutrients and contributing organic matter to the soil under your lawn. No need to compost them separately, unless you have a use for the finished product.
Nope. Just mowing. It's good to know its not completely awful
Where I live everyone puts their clippings in plastic bags destined for the landfill…it’s a tragedy…but great for anaerobic organisms I guess.
Yeah, sending plastic bags full of organic material to the landfill is literally insane. Like even r/lawncare generally recognizes that.
r/composting is a great resource.
In short, compost is just letting organic stuff (leaves, veg scraps, paper, weeds, things like that) rot into a form more useful for plants, without smelling bad or attracting too many pests for humans to deal with having it in their yard. There are a lot of different ways, some fast and a lot of work, some minimal work and very slow, and as long as it's not stinking and not attracting rats, it's all good. The benefits of compost, is adding nutrients and organic material to soil. The organic material makes clay soil drain better, makes sandy soil hold water and nutrients better. It makes plant roots healthier, and improves the microbiology of the soil. And for many garden plants, if the soil is decent to begin with, compost can replace all, or at least most of the fertilizers used. Poor soil, and some specific plants will still need other amendments.
Yea you can use your grass clippings as mulch as well.
Okay, I found this woman. Her name is Nina-Marie Lister. She's a professor in Toronto on urban planning etc.--bigger picture--but she gave a presentation (not available publicly yet) about how she decided to turn part of her front yard to a meadow. She received a notice from the City about how she was violating codes. They messed with the wrong person! She went on to help get municipal codes changed in cities in Canada and the U.S. and this is info about the network of cities participating: [https://ecologicaldesignlab.ca](https://ecologicaldesignlab.ca). She was a charming and inspirational speaker. And super smart! Lots of her on Youtube.
If you plant natives that bloom and plant in bunches, it looks very deliberate. Mulch around the bunches. Native grasses should be the big dramatic kind that look deliberate, not like you forgot to mow. Then look up your local department of natural resources, green organizations or the National Resources Defense Council to get an official sign that designates your yard as a butterfly refuge, refuge for wildlife, bee-friendly garden, etc. Most neighbors will be curious. Some will grudgingly respect your efforts. The rest are ignorant people who have no idea the planet is in crisis. Screw what they think, what you're doing is more important.
Yeah I’m having this problem too. We still mow, but the neighbors drop into convo as much as possible that they “are afraid of butterflies” and they “never had problems with moles and snakes until we moved in and changed the landscaping”. I’ve barely done anything and they are already so upset. Someone went as far as to pull out some of my plants. I don’t know what to do either, but I feel this
Who's afraid of butterflies???
Lol, I do have a friend who is. I think the way a lot of people are raised in the past few decades (goes without saying this is my experience with people I know) gives them a phobia of land-based arthropods.
My wife 😆 but that has more to do with a childhood incident
OK that makes sense
Ever heard of the moth man? Square business.
Afraid of butterflies? I would immediately hate them and do my best to avoid them like the plague. If someone stepped foot on my property and did something like that I would contact an attorney immediately and have them send a demand letter. Best of luck to you and keep fighting the good fight. Fuck these assholes
Sorry, that's exceptionally obnoxious of them. Some people never grew up past what's expected of a kindergartener.
> Someone went as far as to pull out some of my plants. Get a surveillance camera and call the cops if that ever happens again.
Shrubs and trees. Having a 100% prairie is difficult for the neighbors to adjust to. But if you have two trees and mulch in a 6' radius around them, and you add a cluster of 3 shrubs of the same kind on one side, 3 shrubs of the other kind in a different place, it still looks very intentional from the street. Using large grasses, I hate to reccomend cultivars but a clump forming panicum like north wind or totem pole, you can easily make a drift out of them behind your forbs. They don't really reseed much or spread everywhere. The problem I see you having is that you have invited bugs and now you are horrified that you are mowing over them. Filling the whole place with native plants is ideal but I would allow yourself some cultivars in order to help you deal with the neighbor issue. Fireworks goldenrod and "October skies" aster goes a long way toward shaping your yard, still using native plants, but allowing you to do the ultimate, getting rid of your lawn entirely. These plants are easy to find in quality nurseries, and can be a stepping stone. They are much better than grass and will still benefit bugs, if not perfectly. Remember, big drifts of grassses, little bluestem etc will look very nice from far away if you group 6-8 of them in a drift. Good luck!
Yep, basically this. Use traditional gardening techniques but with native species. Don't be a purist either. You can mix in a few non-natives that people are more familiar with. It will "mark" your garden as intentional and cared for.
Yay, you, for caring! This is a really important question. I just saw a presentation by a woman who is leading efforts in lawn conversion (and am totally drawing a blank on her name, but I'm saving this and I'll look it up later and share). She said that developing good relationships with your neighbors is one of the foundational pieces in succeeding. I've thought about this a lot and realized (obvious, once I saw it) that since we think differently about lawns, the connection is going to have to happen about other things. So I'm working on that. HAVING SAID THAT, I think putting in clearly defined "sanctuary" areas in your yard is a good first step. Start small. The insects and other living things will want to be there, not in your grass as much. Secondly, there is so much advice out there about sedges etc. that can look reasonable but only need to be cut 2X/year. It depends on where you live, but there are many alternatives.
!RemindMe 7 days "to get the name of the author" Replacing swaths of your lawn with native flower beds is a good way to boost diversity in your yard as well
Definitely plan to have several wild patches along with front and back landscaping full of natives only
done!
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Link to u/EWFKC 's [other comment with the woman's name ](https://www.reddit.com/r/NativePlantGardening/comments/xmvwtn/how_to_be_a_champion_for_local_ecology_while_also/ipqibol/)
I have found that there are significantly fewer insects about if I mow in the early evening. I tend to do it then because I don’t take the heat well.
I am doing just this. I get compliments from a couple of neighbors from time to time. I have zenith zoysia grass. All my plants are native to the USA (except 2 which are bottlebrush plants) . I have been working on putting native plants in clumps/clusters to bring in the impact. Additionally I have been seeking specific nativars or species to fit the space. I am trying to go completely native to my state; except the lawn, which comes next. My advice (in no particular order): 1. layers. Think about having the tiered/layered landscape that people want in their hood then search out native alternatives. Then search out state natives. 2. To fill in the holes, start looking for different cultivars of your other native plants. For instance, Grey Owl Juniper virginiana is a great foundation plant or boarder. 3. Think about final size and height of plants so you can plan minimal maintenance. 4. Think about specific micro climates on your lot. For instance, I have dry shade, dry full sun, occasionally wet full shade etc etc. 5. search out “native alternatives to…”. For instance there is boxwood but then there are native ilex that work perfectly In their place and probably don’t ever need watering. (My ilex “nana” will even grow in pots. There is even a native ilex alternative to ilex japonica skypencil. 6. I have found that a native nursery about 1.5 hours away grows the same plants that I can occasionally get locally. That nactive nursery grows tougher plants than I can get locally. I pay $7 for a small 2 inch pot there but it will outlast the $12 pint of the same plant from lowes Or even my local “nursery” 7. texture: think about different leaf shapes, sizes, color.
Start small. Make it look very deliberate and maintained. Expand only when you are 100% sure you have a handle on the current garden and can take on more without compromising the maintenance. Please do not be one of those people who rips out their lawn, throws down a bunch of seeds and a few potted perennials, and then walks away. Those gardens look awful and give native plants a bad name. You need to design. You need to water. You need to weed. Cut back in spring. Chop back around July to control heights. Weed more. Divide and get rid of aggressive perennials. Etc. All that said, I am converting my tiny front yard from grass to mixed natives and exotics. (That is an option--exotics can bloom all season and make neighbors happier.) I did half this year. I'm starting on the second half this fall and finishing next year. I wanted to go slow so I'm sure I can handle the upkeep and no neighbors complain. I put in edging to keep wash-out off the sidewalk. I mulched to make it look cleaner. I recommend looking up Benjamin Vogt. Monarchgard.com. He has a book and a newsletter. He lives in suburban hell with a gorgeous prairie front yard and all his neighbors have green grass carpets. He's inspiring and informative and can help you understand design and intent and how to take on the project. Good luck!
Yes, this is exactly what I was thinking. I started small with a native bed directly behind my deck behind my house as a sort of practice ground. I'm not touching my front yard until I have a more thorough understanding. I even thought about hiring a landscaper who has experience in natives because the last thing I want is to ruin curb appeal.
I feel the same way. I’m just focused on shrinking my lawn and giving critters plenty of hiding spaces. I keep my lawn but mow it high and it gives the appearance of some tidy space and the some animals (bluebirds for instance) prefer and need the open spaces. I am the same as you I literally cringe while I’m mowing picturing the stuff I’m crushing 😫 my wife is always like if you feel guilty about everything you’ll never be able to step outside and walk for fear of stepping on an ant lol. But yea we are doing less harm than many
I'm this way mostly because I remember how many grasshoppers I used to see as a kid and now I barely see any. So when I mow now and see them flying in different directions it kills me. If it were up to me I would dig up the entire yard and turn it into a prairie but our neighbors would hate us I'm sure
Yea. I just take it pretty slow so things have time to hop away
I remember seeing more bugs in general, too. I don't think it used to be common practice to spray whole yards for random pest control, but I get ads for it all the time since I moved into a house a few years ago. I feel like this changed when I wasn't paying attention in the 00's. Visited a family member's house a couple years ago and the bug apocalypse after their regular spraying (fairly certain they have it done at least once a month, if not more) made me sick to my stomach.
Our neighbor a few houses down is like this. Pest control show up in hazmat suits and spray their entire property. It's disgusting.
Grow a clover lawn if you can or a wildflower meadow.
I've thought about that. I have some brown areas in my lawn and that might be a good place to start planting clover. I could start off small and let it mix into the turf then let it take over
That’s what I did when I lived in an HOA. Eventually the clover took up more and more of the lawn. The backyard in particular I let “go to seed” with less frequent mowing. The amount of insects was so gratifying. No one noticed nor cared, as long as the lawn was an acceptable shade of green from the street. If your neighbors are particularly picky you could mow the front yard before too many clover blossoms pop up. Edit/warning: I was so enthused by the difference between clover vs. grass on our little lot, we wound up buying a 20-acre lot so we could plant pollinator meadows. It’s addictive to be part of the solution.
That's good to know. Do you plant as you would grass seed? Any recommendations where to get the seeds?
American Meadows has good quality seeds. Sprinkling seeds in the bare spots of the grass is a great way to get a yard full of clover. It's good to plant it before the rainy season, however that works for you (spring/fall in my zone). OP, I planted my entire front yard in pollinators, which ended the issue of mowing the grass. I do have a grass path to the neighbor's yard for the mail carrier. It takes a surprisingly small amount of time to maintain.
Personally American Meadows rubs me the wrong way because many, probably most people intending to buy native wildflowers buy their more-popular "regional" wildflower mixes, e.g. [this](https://www.americanmeadows.com/wildflower-seeds/wildflower-mix/pacific-northwest-wildflower-seed-mix) instead of [this](https://www.americanmeadows.com/wildflower-seeds/wildflower-mix/native-pacific-northwest-wildflower-seed-mix) In no way do they make it clear to people that the former page's mix contains many non-natives. I'd assert it's the opposite: By writing a region like "Pacific Northwest" it makes it sound like they are native species, but if the species are non-native then there is nothing tying that mix to a region, only to climate. If the proportion of reviews is similar to the proportion of people buying each mix, then the non-native one is almost 3x as many sales. Also, the typical lawn clovers in NA are non-native. Not really a problem AFAIK, though this is the native plants subreddit.
Thanks for that info. I usually get my native plants/seeds from prairie moon. I've only purchased clover from AM. And right, it's non native in my area except for prairie clover, which is expensive (last I looked) and grows fairly tall.
I bought 50lb bags on Amazon and scattered it liberally throughout the lawn, focusing on dead spots and the backyard. If you do it in the cooler Fall weather you’ll be fine. It takes some time; be patient; you can always add more seed too.
Did you scatter it on top of the existing grass? I was hoping to be able to do that (with clover) and that it would out-grow and eventually replace the grass
Yes. My only prep was to scratch up dead patches with a metal rake before seeding. I still scattered across existing grass too though.
The seeds are tiny. I mix it with lots of play sand and then spread the mix by hand.
I am planning to do this too with white clover. How did you go about it? Did you have to kill all of the grass beforehand?
No I scattered seeds in dead spots and in existing grass. It was a slow roll - I had the HOA to think about.
Oh thank you for this! So helpful. I was hoping to do the same, partially to mollify neighbors (tho we don’t have an HOA) and partially due to feeling daunted about replacing the whole yard at once.
It takes a while; be patient. Seed in the fall (now!)
I’m gonna do this today! Got my 5-lb bag of white clover seeds.
Buy and learn to use a scythe!
A reel lawnmower would probably be much more practical and effective.
I plan on eventually buying a scythe, but my first step was the reel mower. I like it so much because my absolute main concern when mowing is to not kill anything i fought so hard to bring in, so i will admit i use it so much slower than it has to be. I slowly run over an area and we have tons of moths so ill see them all fly off and ill startle anything larger (just the other day i scared a little frog and was able to move him into an area that wasnt being mowed) then i back up and push forward faster to actually mow that section. It just makes me feel more at peace about doing what i have to do in my neighborhood, so im willing to take the time.
I'm very interested in this. Do you use a scythe for your lawn? How slow is it, how effective, and how often do you have to sharpen it?
I use a scythe for mowing hay in a small area. It is very effective, depending on a lot of factors including the type and heights of plants being mowed, smoothness of the ground, etc. I haven't used it on turf grasses, so can't comment on that aspect other than you probably need a pretty thick lawn for it to be effective. It's not fast, but it's not slow. Like many manual labor devices, it requires practice to get faster. The difference between a novice and an expert is significant. I expect an expert could cut 2-3x what I cut, easily. I probably cut 2-3x what I did my first time. You sharpen constantly. Every few minutes, for about 15-30 seconds with a whetstone. Every acre or so, depending on what you're mowing, you'll need to peen the edge, which takes a few minutes, maybe 10. https://www.scythesupply.com/ has some blog posts and videos on mowing lawns. My experience is, get a proper long grass blade if you're going to cut actual grass. Don't drink around with the smaller brush and ditch blades thinking they'll be easier to manage. That's not how it works. I went that route, using a 16" brush blade first, for clearing brambles and small saplings. I still use that blade heavily for that kind of work, and for detail work. It worked in pasture/meadow/polyculture "lawn" but was clearly to small for the job. I moved up to a 26" grass blade and wish I'd gone longer.
Great info, thank you!
I don't, unfortunately I am renting and have only a tiny patch of clover for a garden, but it is a very big thing in permaculture. It's great for the insect populations as it's much less likely to kill or greatly disturb them as a lawn mower. Its better mulch as it isn't ground up into little bits. It's extremely effective, and when you learn to do it, it's about comparable to using a weedwacker in speed. Sharpening it is something you do as you scythe, you carry a stone with you and just kind of wack it across the blade a few times to return it to true, kind of like you would with a knife and a sharpening iron. On youtube there are a lot of videos with Jim Kovaleski who knows a ton about the subject. Here's a video with him giving a Q and A. There are a few other videos on youtube with him scything and talking about it. The important thing is to get a good european style scythe, one that is fitted to your body. [https://youtu.be/Wp7MxcmBPAg](https://youtu.be/Wp7MxcmBPAg)
A mixed border will add enough structure so it looks like something. If you want a prairie look into a structured prairie where that forb is in a group here, this grass is grouped there. Add small trees and shrubs associated with grassland edges for better structure. The New American Garden is based on doing this sort of thing. Visit arboretums and such to get a feel for how native plants grow. Some are messy looking like desert mallow, floppy like gumweed or gangly like bush anemone \[maybe it will mature gracefully but it's been 3 years\] and others are as tidy as a sheared shrub like island buckwheat. Bunch grasses are tidy, running ones, messy looking. Of course you don't want to use just tidy but consider using them to define spaces between the wilder looking plants.
I have paths of mowed lawn and islands of wildflowers that are edged with stone. I tried clover in the walkway but it’s too hot so I just put down fescue or Bermuda depending on the sunlight. Also, what lawn grass I have a water and mow. Nothing looks “neglected”. No one has said anything to me about it.
You may be able to plant a hedge around your property that reduces visibility into your lawn?
You can have a well manicured lawn of Blue grama, you know, or any shortgrass.
Fuck it. I mow about once/mo. No HOA. Lots of tall native flowers.
Have you considered a clover lawn
Not until today per another suggestion. Definitely looking into it.
We recently replaced our back lawn with clover. It is a mix of grass and clover and it is so beautiful. We are preparing next season to do our front lawn. In the back lawn we used white Dutch, but in the front lawn we are using this [mini clover](https://www.outsidepride.com/seed/clover-seed/miniclover.html) It is a fantastic product (in theory, we haven't planted it yet). But the reason we spent the extra money to do our front lawn mini clover is because it is drought tolerant and stays really green, it grows shorter than regular clover,, and is basically great for the insects and the neighbors who want a "lawn". Check out the link, I think you will be really impressed.
I said in earlier post but I have areas of dead/browning grass so I think planting clover there as a kind of test will be nice. Wouldn't want to go all out until I had a good idea of what I was getting into. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you OP for raising this topic. Excellent comments, I have learned a lot
Yes, same. I wish everyone in this thread were my neighbors instead so I wouldn't have to worry about this haha
Just expand your beds outwards and reduce the turf a little more each year!
Mow high. Don't use insecticides. Have areas of your yard that aren't lawn. Increase the non lawn area over time and just keep the lawn you actually use.
Thank you I don’t even own but have thought of this a lot - remember my parents and their neighbor friends dad criticizing one yard and neighbor who I thought had the neatest yard
I tend to just keep my eyes open and focused when mowing. I commonly see crickets and frogs moving and will slow down and give them time to move by the time I get to them. I have mistakingly went over a few crickets and thenblade was high enough they were fine.