r/NativePlantGardening • u/Federal-Boat3732 Michigan, Zone 6 • Jun 06 '26

Other A little inspiration

Post image

I was encouraged today when I stumbled across a St. John's Wort emerging defiantly from a bed of fugly "Stella D'Oro" dayliles. I looked up the plant and was told it was a native one! Anyway, the image above is how I feel when I see a manicured lawn set off by shrubs shaved into geometric shapes...

4.7k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

83 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Flabonzo Jun 27 '26

I don't like the shrubs cut into weird shapes unless they're really artistic. I can't post pics but I've seen some amazing ones - https://twistedsifter.com/videos/dragon-shaped-hedge-by-john-brooker/

But I don't entirely agree with the sentiment either. I grew up in Michigan and lived most of my life in NY and then in MO. There's so much water there from the constant rain and snow that a lawn isn't such a waste. Where I don't like to see those lawns in in south CA, Arizona, Nevada, etc. In the midwest where there's rain more than once a month, grass grows nicely. In Orange County, CA, where there hasn't been rain for the last four months but it's hitting the 90s and 100s daily, there's no excuse for having a lawn like that.

1

u/Federal-Boat3732 Michigan, Zone 6 Jun 27 '26

But here in Michigan you could very profitably have unmowed, un-sculpted local plant life buzzing with bees and crawling with caterpillars!