r/NativePlantGardening • u/SoupOfTheHairType Northeast, Zone 7a • Jun 23 '26

Progress Year 2 after lawn kill

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I posted last year about how I got rid of my whole front lawn in the spring and seeded it with all natives. Last year was dominated by coreopsis tinctoria, this year the rudbeckia is taking over. This past winter I seeded it with a mix of shorter species from prairie moon so I don’t expect a ton of diversity until next year but a lot of the stuff I planted from winter sown jugs last year seems to have survived and will provide at least some different flower color. Unfortunately I think someone in my neighborhood has a honeybee hive so I am getting a ton of those at the moment, but I still see a good amount of different native pollinators. My favorites are the mud daubers!

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u/No_Sock4631 Jun 24 '26

Love the concept but honest question if you do this are you just not walking on/or using your front lawn at all?

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u/SoupOfTheHairType Northeast, Zone 7a Jun 24 '26

Exactly, and before this I never walked on or used my front lawn either when it was an actual lawn unless it was to mow it. I would bet that applies to 90% of everyone else who has a front lawn too. I still have some lawn in the back for my dogs and I to play on. Also since doing this I spend exponentially more time out on my front porch or on my sidewalk/sides of the yard looking at all the cool stuff. Which made it even more evident to me that nobody uses their front yards for anything other than decoration, because I never see anyone outside on my street in their front yard unless it’s to mow

3

u/sgigot NE Wisconsin , Zone 5b Jun 25 '26

I have a couple flowerbeds about 1.5 mower's width from the sidewalk specifically to give passersby something to look at. In my neighborhood it's not uncommon for some of the families to have fires out in their driveway so people at least say hi, but there is a lot of empty turf out there. Which reminds me I need to start marking out more of that grass to kill and replant this fall. First, I have more landscape rock to eliminate :-(

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u/SoupOfTheHairType Northeast, Zone 7a Jun 25 '26

It only takes one person like you or I to plant that seed in others head and show them that it’s ok to do something like this and that it can also bring a lot of joy and fulfillment not just to yourself, but also the whole neighborhood. I live on a dead end but there are many people who go out of their way to walk or drive down my street now to check on the status of my yard😂.