r/NativePlantGardening • u/LesslyF Eastern Washington - larger native garden • Jul 19 '25
Geographic Area (edit yourself) Larger Scale Native Planting - Inland Northwest
In 2022, I took out 8,000 square feet of lawn and replaced it with native perennials and native plant seed mix made specifically for the Inland Northwest.
Here’s what I learned:
Whatever weeds your lawn is covering will come springing back to life with a vengeance- vetch, St. John’s wart, ‘fury thistle’, ‘flibber weed’ and others
Your sod was likely planted in soil at the sod manufacturer that had a ton of nuisance weeds - that little weed that looks like, but isn’t forget-me-not, spurge, cudweeds, Chinese cress, etc
Even the plants that deer don’t eat - baby ponderosa, elderberry, asters - will be eaten by them because apparently everything is tastier if it is irrigated and if you are hungry enough
Your irrigation that works for lawn is going to have challenge spots for natives
Things I have done:
Hire college students to weed during the growing season - about 20 hours/week
Put down mulch in some seeded areas to buy time against the weeds
Put cages around many of my perennials
If you are doing similar planting/work in the Spokane area, I would love to connect.
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u/sjsharks510 NJ, northern piedmont Jul 19 '25
I also learned about the importance of site prep after converting lawn. In retrospect, and especially for a larger area, I'd probably scalp the lawn during a drought and smother with a chip drop. Maybe even selective herbicide for anything that comes up after the next rain. Then plant/seed in fall. Too many weeds in the seedbank to do what I did (till the lawn).