Learn how to convert your lawn into a native plant garden! Converting your lawn to a native plant garden saves you time, saves you money, and saves the planet.
I know a single person's effort is minimal, however when you look at the totality of combined single efforts it does make an impact. My daughter introduced me to using rags to replace paper towels and napkins. My use of them has influenced others to convert. My conversation to native meadows has resulted in associates converting their lawns. A single person's conversion to more eco-friendly practices can have a snowball effect to thousands if not millions of people thinking about their impact on our ecosystem and climate change. So take your small efforts and observe the process of increasing efforts by people within your circle. I'm pleased and proud of my small contribution to saving our planet for future generations.
Here in my town in the Netherlands the city stopped mowing most of the grass lawns. They still mow some parts, but a lot of grass lawn is turned into meadows with wildflowers. And in some areas where there only used to be grass lawn the city also created really nice little vernal ponds. Those are small seasonal ponds without fish that hold water just long enough in the season so that amphibians have enough time to complete their reproduction cycle. And the vernal ponds also create a whole different habitat for different plant species. I have a tiny garden, it is only about 100 square yards, with a tiny pond and a tiny lawn and tiny plant borders. But I grow 8 different tree species. And this season I stopped mowing a part of my tiny lawn. And I can already see one species of wildflowers that emerged by itself. I also try to grow as many wildflowers as possible by seeding the flowers. The soil in my plant borders is covered with wood chips and small twigs. And this attracts a lot of insects, and in turn the insects attracts hedgehogs that come to forage in my garden. It also helps the micro organisms in my garden. And it eliminates the need for fertilizers. And it helps to suppress weeds. And it helps to prevent evaporation from the water in the soil. Wood chips are incredibly good for restoring the soil health and the soil fertility and the soil micro organisms, and for preventing water evaporation. Now my garden attracts a lot of smaller wildlife species. Insects, birds, butterflies, and smaller mammals. I can see insects come and take a drink of water from my pond. I can see birds taking a bath that I created for the birds. And the birds also help to fertilize my garden, and to spread flower seeds in my tiny garden. When you have a source of water it will attract a lot of animal species. And this can be done by creating shallow holes with gentle slopes so that it can hold water for two months or so during the season. The holes don't need to be big or deep. About 1 foot deep or less, and 5 foot in diameter would be enough. That is all it takes to create a vernal pond. Very good initiative 👍Wildflowers are much nicer as a lawn.
Awesome video. We live in the suburbs. The last year or two, we’ve added several native species, shrubs and flowers. We have noticed many more insects since we moved in. One day, we won’t even have a lawn to mow. Keep up the good work!
Well done! I’m a 65 year old master gardener in North Central TX and everything you’ve said, shown applies in my yard and all yards. Every year I remove another patch of lawn, starting with cardboard layers in the winter then adding soil’ compost, mulch over time…and garden & native plants thereafter.
Ive been seeing monarch butterflies in my yard for the first time in years. We spread a wildflower mix a few years ago and I leave areas unmowed to bring in more pollinators to my garden
I am from London, England. I live at my sisters property and she only has a small garden, but I have just turned her lawn into a wildflower meadow, filled the borders with herbacious perennials, so that the garden has a long flowering period. Her pond was empty, so I filled it with plants and introduced native sticklebacks!😊 I will not be using any chemicals in the garden from now on.
Great job ladies! Thoroughly enjoyed learning. Keep it fun! Make more videos!! Reach out to schools globally! I'd love to have my daughter learn this early. Simcoe county, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦
This is great information. I'm very happy to see more people interested in reducing their lawns. Letting the kitty out isn't sending a good message though.
Huge supporter here of advocating for rethinking how space is used by humans to slow and help the world around us chances to recover from the harms done through habitat loss and destruction from waste. Keep up the awesome work!!!
I live on a half acre. My home takes up about a fourth of this. I put a picket fence around the front. I am fortunate to have no HOA where I live. I turned the front into haven for insects and animals. I grow vegtables and wildflowers. I use no pesticides and all natural fertilizers. I have a small pond and birdbaths. My back yard which is about a quarter of an acre is all native. I am backed up to a forest. I have left everything alone. I have lizards, chipmunks, squirrels, deer,tons of different birds,racoons,opossum etc..not to mention all the butterflys, dragonflies, bees etc...When I go anywhere I look at all the grass lawns and just shake my head. All of the people around me have lawns. My yard is full of plants that you literally can not even see me when I am in it.
In the exact same situation here in California! Have about the same size lawn but with a tall fence in the backyard. I have countless birds and lizards and pollinators. My culdesack has about half the lawns as native. The difference in wildlife is drastic.
I loved this! Good job spreading this important message. KACHOW!
Месяц назад
Why do institutions have lawns instead of landscapes is what I don't get. A well planned landscape looks better and is less care therefore cheaper and more ecofriendly. Plus a nice place to take a 10 min break and refresh.
Because lawn mowing is cheaper and easier. It requires zero imagination and a power tool. Gardening is a skill; you need people to design and maintain the landscape. Maybe someday more institutions will recognize the value.
Месяц назад
@@kylecostello6063 One person as a job can maintain vast garden grounds if the landscape is planned and installed correctly.
Great video! Theres a shot of grass that you use twice, the second time 6:15 during the discussion of Kentucky bluegrass. I’m pretty sure that there’s a four leaf clover in the center-bottom of the frame! 🍀🍀🍀
Wonderful!! Thank you. I've been growing flowering plants in a garden bed about 1/4 of my front lawn, specifically for our tiny native social stingless bee [Tetrogonula carbinaria]. BUT I've realized I'm using mostly non-native plants. Flowering plants that are more 'open', allowing these tiny bees' tongues to get to the nectar. I have thought a lot about using natives for the whole lawn area but seemed too afraid of planting our often bigger [but obviously ideal] natives for these bees and all bees, including honey bees, which are alarmingly in decline. Scared to make a big mistake, when the ol' lawn seemed easier! But now I realize 'why not' ? We have lots of daisy-type plants, spreading Grevillea ground covers, small Callistemon, small Eucalyptus, small Wattles [Acacia] for pollin, and loads of other plants. What was I thinking? [Hubby will just have to get used to not mowing!] haha. I know it's not 'Lawn to Meadow', but you hve helped my so much. Thank you again. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK♥ Pat, Queensland, Australia. SUBSCRIBED!
I grew tired of feeling helpless about climate change and decided that I was going to do something. I didn't care if it was small, it was/ is something. I have been growing an aspen forest in my backyard in Canada. It is now growing on its own and the almost all of the trees are volunteers. I keep a little bit of grass in the middle of the yard for myself but the rest is no mow and I am converting as much as I can to natural native species. I added a pit under my eaves trough and a natural pond to help hydrate the soil. This is the first year of no mow and the bio diversity is already increased dramatically. I hope that my example inspires people around me to do the same.
Lawns are a way to give people control over the land they reside on, and this sense of control is very much ingrained in American culture. It's a hard ask for one to let go of that control and realize what can become of it. Even the idea of allowing a lawn to grow up with native plants is greatly stigmatized and seen as low class or messy - when the reality is much more beautiful than this simplistic mindset. Importantly, there's also an economic interest in keeping things the way they are. Lawn care and pest control are billion-dollar industries, and so these industries have a vested interest in maintaining imposed cultural values. Keeping things sterile is seen as proper, and there's pride in this idea of having a tidy, uniform sea of grass and identical, equally spaced bushes with dyed mulch beneath them. The political divide should also be taken into account, as environmentalism seems to have picked up a negative connotation over the years, This has led to many of the ideas presented in this video being associated with a certain ideology, and many people reject the idea of native plants as a whole because of this - simply deeming it to be a liberal plot to control what we do with our land. Great video, regardless. I hope these issues can be ironed out with proper education, and hopefully more and more people start to latch onto this as a potential solution to insect decline, habitat loss, and so on.
Many issues arise from people not understanding the difference between native and invasive species. In the UK, many individuals mistakenly believe that native plants are invasive and remove them, influenced by American gardening programs they watch. I guess that happens in all countries. Once the majority get an idea like this it is really hard to get them to listen.
I never used gasoline to maintain my tiny lawn. I had a 2 wheel reel mower. It was not bad for my health or the environment. I would never water it in a drought. I allowed the grass to go dormant. I never fertilized it. It included a blend of nitrogen fixing clover. My lawn absorbed rain water. It prevented soil erosion. The native robins would always love picking through the grass. The native bees enjoyed the flowering clover. I never saw any need to vilify having that grass lawn. It did NOT make me partly responsible for "killing us". 😞 However Trugreen trespassed on my lawn & sprayed chemicals on it, killing the clover and plantain, etc. Although I never hired them, they completely destroyed my lawn. After that, I decided to eliminate every blade of grass on my whole property. Some grassy areas were converted into lush planting beds. Some lawn was converted into hardscapes which are worse for the environment from a water filtration perspective. But you can't just plant a bunch a meadow flowers without leaving any space for walking and actually doing things in your property. This is ivory tower rhetoric. You need some sort of functional space that suits your needs. After multiple attempts at finding a good ground cover that can handle foot traffic, I've finally settled on Elfin creeping thyme. I'm still making cuttings and filling in all of my open areas. It is a long drawn out process and not something to jump into blindly. Either way, teaching people ways to better manage their lawn without the need for irrigation or chemical inputs is going to be more practical and potentially beneficial. You would be more likely to get wider adoption of such a strategy. In the end, if a person is worried about how their choices are impacting the planet, then I suggest looking at what you eat. Go plant based. It's going to have a much bigger impact than ripping out a tiny urban lawn.
I think we should losen up the laws and social restrictions on lawns to allow people to who want to change, will do so. And eventually other people we follow
Where did the Idea of lawns come from !? And killing all the weeds that are not weeds . It's crazy . And stupid . In Russia they have no lawns . There yards are fruit trees herbs etc .I hope you help people wake up . In Utah people are going to low maintenance, but it's rock or wood chip instead of native plants .
A fun watch, but I would caution against using the alarmist rhetoric. I would also advise folks to use a little more care in designing the areas that are visible to the public. A lot of the complaints we hear about are because the "meadows" look like abandoned lots, and nobody wants to live next to something that is kind of messy. I always recommend folks go very formal in their native garden designs whenever possible because that looks "good" to anyone. It looks like something that is under control. In my area, for example, a formal hedge of Ilex vomitoria looks very similar to a boxwood hedge we all grew up around, but the Yaupon holly is native and serves the ecosystem as discussed here. Similarly, large "drift" plantings of a single species, like Echinacea, give you the appearance of a maintained garden while also making sure to use a native species that helps the insects and birds.
Good ideas but terrible heading , only came toi say that but did watch a bit. A balance is what I have always had , there is a need for some mowing if you have children , they are as importabnt as wild grow areas. Climate change rhetoric and fearmongering however is hurting your children , just stop it , enough damage has been done to their poor minds this last decade.
