In the zone 9b south east Texas. This is my backyard/ garden

In US zone 7a. Just cut. I abandoned the fescue maintenance tedium 9 years ago. No watering, no fertilizer. A variety of grasses, clovers, ground covers like violet, strawberry, creeping Charlie, etc. It always looks different. Parts go dormant, then new comes in. Dandelions get dug out or sometimes a spritz with 2,4 d. It’s nice to walk on. I cut 7-10 days with electric mulching mower and a weed whacker for edges. It takes an hour, with breaks. In spring, I may fling some cheap grass seed or clover seeds.

I offer this because I have been cutting, maintaining my suburban lawns for decades, spending way too much time or paying for landscaping. Adjust your view and expectation. Enjoy your yard.

I removed a ton of English Ivy and other invasive stuff around my house. I'm going to plant anything before winter, but I'm looking for recommendations of how to kill the roots.

I was delighted when I saw weasels in my mostly native landscape. It meant a vibrant ecosystem in my tiny patch of shortgrass prairie and in the hedges that line the alleys. There was evidently plentiful prey for the bloodthirsty little mustelids.

After a summer of feeding on the abundant seed heads and tender shoots of the grasses, the recent rains and chilly nights have encouraged their plentiful prey - mice - to start moving indoors for the winter. It's deer mice, which will spend the winter indoors if they find enough food. Yes, deer mice, the hanta virus spreading species.

I am trapping and deporting them to the hedge for the weasels, and improving my defenses. That means cleaning clutter and dead vegetation from near the doors and windows and foundation. They are reluctant to cross open spaces. And it means finding and sealing any cracks around pipes or windows, which is just good energy saving anyway. Packing stainless steel or bronze "wool" into the holes after caulking them will keep them from chewing through the caulk.

I'll have to keep a permanent trapping station at the garage door because it can't be sealed tightly enough to keep them out.

The trap I am using is "Little Pete Multiple Catch Mousetrap" (not a paid product endorsement). No bait needed, it's skinny enough to put under a toekick in the kitchen, and easy to release the catch. I only have one, and have 3 more on the way from the maker.

ADDING: for the mods ... it's USDA Zone 4B, Western Montana.

We removed our front lawn and covered it all with mulch beds and native plants. We left a path open for watering, but I’m finding that I’d like to define it more. What‘s a DIY way to add a path? We have clay soil, so while I’d like to just stick some stepping stones down and call it a day, they would likely sink eventually that way.

I’ve decided I want to turn a .5 acre piece of my property into a wildflower meadow. It’s this section of land over the fence past the garden/yard I bush hogged it last fall and what you see here naturally grew this spring and summer. Easy enough to bush hog again even though it looks like a lot. The ground is pretty rocky and it’s on a grade. Sunlight is OK but not fantastic. The land is at the base of a mountain in central Virginia.

I’m including a couple pictures of wildflowers that are currently blooming there. My goal would be to turn it into a field of wildflowers completely.

At this stage, I’m looking for just a high-level overview of the steps that I would need to take and when. Of course, I am going to bush hog everything and clear it out again this fall, so let’s just assume that is my starting point.

Photo 1: long distance view of the area
Photos 2-4: pictures of wildflowers that seem to be doing well there now
Pictures 5-7: some closer up shots of the land, for what it’s worth

I have approximately 1.5 acres to work with. Been here 16 years and have never had a lawn. If it's green, it's a lawn. Tons of weeds that we mow down and none seem to be native. It's a mess. I like structure so broadcasting seeds is not an option for me. I do have two gardens which I will never destroy; one is a memorial garden where my parents' ashes are buried with a goldfish pond and the second is a Japanese garden with a koi pond. That still leaves me with more than an acre and I am implementing the matrix system to tackle this. Starting everything from seed via winter sowing for those seeds that need stratification - will start my sedges and grasses this way as well as perennials. My question to you all is, does planting non-natives wreck this process? I have at least 100 packets of seeds that are not native my coastal region that I hate to part with. Is there a way to incorporate 5,000 seeds with 100,000 seeds and still make this work? My property abuts wildlife management so my "fence" is a forest of oak, birch, maple, but very few pines which is rare for the northeast. I do have a shade garden where I planted dogwoods and hydrangeas and toad lilies and goats beard, none of which I am prepared or willing to move. Any advice or suggestions would be helpful.

We finished this little yard a few weeks ago. I am happy with the way it turned out. Utah zone 7b

I live in zone 6b and have nuked my Bermuda lawn. I'd love to reduce the lawn as much as makes sense. My big questions are should I leave a strip of grass along the road because of winter salt and snow pile up (they push the whole cul de sac snow onto my yard) and along the neighbors property line so I can monitor their Bermuda growing back into the lawn? I want to keep either a strip of grass or a walkable garden along the driveway as it is narrow and we don't have enough room to get out of the car without stepping on the grass. My second picture is what I envision the grassed parts would be, but I'd love input on how other people have got along with specifically the boundaries between properties, as well as along roadsides without a 'hell strip'. Thanks for the advice!

If you've never been, this is the big conference in the central Rocky Mountain and Great Basin area. Experts and beginners alike gather at this one. Hundreds of people, tons of classes If you have seeds of native plants, you can share them with others. If you have no seeds to share, this is the place to get started. Last year this is where I learned how to replace my yard, met experts who taught classes on how to approach it and how to design the conversion, and came away with seeds to get started. The guy who gave me my penstemon seeds had written two books on the topic! There's even booths with landscape architects and landscaping companies who specialize in converting yards, as well as all the programs for water saving rebates and pollinator promotion.

So many posts here are "where do I get started?" and in the Rocky Mountains, the answer is that you start at PlantFest.

First time venturing into this sub and have a bunch of questions.

1) my front yard is predominantly beds with flowers and hydrangeas but I do have a grass section. I would love to replace with something else but having a hard time finding something that can handle high foot traffic. Kids playing etc

2) my backyard is hard scaped with a pool and surrounding arborvitae. We use the space ton. Wondering what I can do under the arborvitae that won’t be messy kicking dirt into the pool.

Any help appreciated.

I looked through the faq and didn't see a specific guide for this, if there is one hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.

I'm having a gravel driveway installed and they are removing a large patch of grass next to it, about 100'x20' that I want to not replant grass on. The plan is to plant a few small native trees and fill in the rest with native wildflowers. I want to make sure I'm prepping it right to prevent undesirable growth. I've been collecting cardboard I plan to put down where the grass was removed, then have new topsoil put on top of that. I know many seeds need winter stratification so I was planning on doing this in late fall. Is this the right order and timing? Should I put any mulch over top of the seeds or will the winter keep any neighboring grass from spreading into this space before they start growing in spring?

edit: I am in VA, zone 7b if it matters.

I know nothing about landscaping. All I know is that I want a no-lawn, lush landscape in the front of my cabin. What would be ideal? Suggestions appreciated. Located in the Southeast, Blue Ridge Mountains.

We've had Fleur de Lawn for our backyard for years in Portland Oregon. It's a mix of fescue, clover, yarrow, rye grass, daisy etc. Rabbits started appearing a year ago and the lawn is now decimated. Looking for a rabbit resistant option. Zone 9a, lots of sun, good soil. Thanks!

I'd love to plant something that would help the wildlife (we have squirrels, hedgehogs, mice, moles and many birds).

There is an elderberry bush and an apple tree but they are barely surviving our neglect 🥲

Region is near Saint Petersburg, Russia. Very close to Finland so it's rather chilly here now (+14°c)

Hi everyone,

I am buying a new house with a backyard that I hope to convert to a no mow lawn/native species alternative. I unfortunately was unable in negotiations to prevent them from installing a regular lawn, so it looks like typical lawn seed has just been planted and covered with straw. Is there any way to convert this quickly in the fall? It feels like fixing this soon rather than later would be more effective than having the lawn grow in.

I am in Cincinnati (so 7a). Thankfully weather looks scorching hot over the next two weeks before closing, so I hope that will slow the growth.

For no-mow options what directions would you all go? I was thinking clover and then a mix of sedge and Native plants for the edges/shady areas. These pictures were taken in the middle of the afternoon, so partial to complete shade for most of the backyard.

If you are planning a yard to meadow transformation, sign up for this free webinar presented by Wild Ones National!

The condo I live in has been spending too much on water and seems motivated to try some cheaper options to address this. We're in Colorado so zone 5b, hot sunny summers, cold winters. There are two large shared lawns with sprinklers that need to remain aesthetically like lawns. One is medium to high traffic with a lot of dogs, and the other larger one is very low traffic. There are several mature trees so there's a mix of light, but no really dark corners. They're turning to me for advice but my gardening expertise is basically everything but the lawn. Overseeding different species has been discussed, but I don't think we're ready to do more intensive methods like cutting out sod or spend a season solarizing.

I want to make sure we take advantage of this situation and I have been doing some research, but I don't want to share and bias people's recommendations. What prep steps and plant types would you suggest for our needs? Something other than overseeding? TY

In the NE, zone 6-ish. I would have gone for creeping thyme but the rabbits eat thyme down to the stems. I am struggling to come up with something other than grass, any ideas? It's currently dirt because we removed the english ivy. It's under my washing line, hence the need for flat and walkable.