One of the first things she asked for when moving in last summer was to expand the flower bed so she could bring her garden with her.
She transplanted much of her collection, which she has spent decades cultivating. An inspiration!
If anyone has any recommendations on how to prune and work with the potted Fig tree, let us know :)
It’s still a work in progress. Pic 2 is from another, less pretty angle (the gray you see is mostly sheep fescue- a drought tolerant “no mow” grass). I’d like to do more sections eventually but my time is limited (have a toddler— in a few years maybe she’ll help!).
Killed the grass through solarizing (pic 3). I wish I had started earlier in the summer and did a few cycles where I let weeds germinate. The soil was in pretty bad shape and took awhile before I could get it to support much (mostly worked on this by spreading compost and planting clover and other nitrogen fixing things). The flowers are mostly from Prairie Moon’s “pretty darn quick” meadow mix.
Happy to answer any questions!
It’s almost knee length grass and wild flowers and I don’t think they have cut grass so far even once this year. Is it being done intentionally ?
Hi so basically to my understanding, the best way to smother is with cardboard and then wood chips, because of the soil micro biome and what not. Has anyone smothered with just simply a tarp? I have MS so my mobility is limited but my other half is willing to help, I’m just trying to weigh my options and figure out the best way. It’s pretty easy to just lay a tarp out until October or whatever. If cardboard and wood chip is absolutely the only way to do it then I will probably have to wait a year because financially things are tight as I’m sure everyone in the USA is feeling!!!
Zone 6a! Northeast Ohio
A few years ago we converted our side yard into a "Piedmont prairie". This year has really been testing it to its limits. We haven't had any real rainfall since early June and I haven't been doing any supplemental watering (though I think I'm going to break down this weekend and give them some soaker hose time). The bees using the mountain mint as beds is so cute to me🥺
Right now, the strip of land between our sidewalks and streets sits mostly empty. It could be feeding us instead.
I started a petition asking our city to allow residents to plant food in residential swales. I've seen what growing and sharing food does for a neighborhood—it brings people together, cuts down on food insecurity, and honestly? It makes our streets feel alive instead of wasted.
Our current code says no. But other cities like Seattle already allow it, and they're thriving because of it. We could too. It's not complicated—it's just letting people use the space they already own to grow something real.
If you've ever thought, "Why is that strip of dirt just sitting there?" or felt the squeeze of rising food prices, or wanted your neighborhood to feel more connected, this matters. If this resonates with you, I'd love for you to consider signing and sharing it. What would you plant if you could?
I know that it sort of defeats the purpose, but my family is very allergic to bees. I tend to leave them alone and can be comfortable, but my SO gets super nervous. It’s hard enough trying to convince to ditch grass, but I’m looking for alternatives to grass that aren’t water thirsty, or flower. We can figure out bushes and stuff probably but advice is appreciated. this is in Seattle btw
Zone 5, Upper Midwest, USA.
After converting my lawn into a native prairie garden, I watched as pollinators like butterflies, moths, bumble bees, wasps, and small native bees visited all the blooming flowers. Among the 70+ species of native plants I planted, there were five species that stood out.
What are the top pollinator plants in your yard?
My other half suggested that he can just remove the sod for me instead of waiting for the grass to smother, which is better? Why is everyone just smothering the grass? Thanks for any input.
ETA: I am zone 6a
Hello! Looking for some ideas on this section of lawn.
It is southeast facing, and gets all day sun. Ground is sandy. Previously grew grass here. In Michigan. This is a northwest corner lot, in a busy downtown small city location.
The stump was a 10 year old mulberry tree, cut down last year. The large tree is a 30+ year old silver maple.i don't know what the bushes around the tree are, but they have small fragrant flowers in early summer. These bushes also lined the other side of the sidewalk, all the way to the stop sign, but have been dying for several years and we finally cut them last year too.
The area between the sidewalks is 35 feet by 15 feet. The smaller area between the sidewalk and driveway, next to the maple is 25 by 6 feet.
I want privacy from the road for the porch, because this is a busy street. But I can't plant anything too close or blocking the stop sign. We've been fined before from the old bushes blocking the sign.
Because this is downtown with ordinances, I need the area to look tidy, so it can't be all wildflowers. I have a limited amount of tree types I could plant, but no limit on bushes.
Any ideas?
Location: Chicago IL
In the transition of killing my lawn, and wanted to run my ideas through you all.
Info: I am city proper, in my neighborhood/block people ACTIVELY, throw trash into people yards so I am avoiding tall/bushy plants to be able to see and pick up the trash that gets thrown and blown around. I would prefer something low maintenance because I just don’t have time between caring for the property and work. And I would like to encourage and preserve the small firefly population we still have over here (super open to suggestions for encouraging the growth of the population). All of my options will be post digging up the lawn. A tree shades my front lawn, the back lawn is pretty much full sun.
Option 1: Mulch and gravel/dirt mainly; section off a spot to plant some common milkweed for butterflies and maybe a small section for wildflowers. Kids do play in my lawn a small bit often so I need something that can create stability so they aren’t sliding around hurting themselves especially when wet.
Option 2: Clover with the aforementioned milkweed and wildflowers section.
Option 3: ground level native plant that is low maintenance (needs to be tolerant of activity on the lawn) I am open to suggestions on plant reccs but was looking at stone crops?
TIA!!
The beauty of planting native: not a drop of irrigation yet thriving during the heat wave.
I recently learned that there’s a Virginia Creeper look alike. Im trying to ID this plant but struggling to differentiate it from the other one. I believe I was supposed to check for tendrils which it doesnt have. Seek says it Virginia Creeper. Help.
photo ID- image of a trailing plant with 5 leaves in a bed of pine needles.
Here’s my yard.. I added used old pavers to the side of the driveway.. and tried to add native perennials with the exception of the Berkeley sedge in the form 1/5 of the yard… I should be able to get more to finish the yard in the next month…
Locate in San Antonio, TX
Mistakes:
Anyway any tips you have for me to fix my yard and make it more generallly aesthetically cohesive and functional appreciated
Thank you
Seeing some more perennial infiltration from pycnanthemum muticum and tenifolium, heliopsis helianthoides, monarda fistulosa, rudbeckia triloba, and solidago juncea this year, and a continuation of rudbeckia hirta, chamaecrista fasciculata, elymus virginicus, and schizachyrium scoparium.
Might not be the right place to post, but my son got bored of just mowing over the clovers should I fight it or plant some more wild flowers in the patches? He thought it was whimsical and says we have an art deco yard now.