A delighted gardener has taken to Reddit to show off the transformation of their lawn.
As the Redditor detailed, they grew tired of constantly watering and cutting their traditional monoculture lawn. That's why they opted to grow wildflowers instead, and the results are dramatic.
"Three years ago this was a lawn... now it's a wildflower chaos meadow full of happy bees!" they captioned the post, which featured a short video that pans across a lush and thriving mini-meadow full of pink, purple, and yellow flowers.
They described how they started their "lawn murder project" by laying down black plastic for a full growing season before removing it and planting native plant seeds.
While this was clearly effective, laying down plastic might not always be the best option to kill an existing lawn, as it could leach harmful chemicals into the soil. Plastics typically contain forever chemicals, which don't break down naturally and could negatively affect the future growth of plants. Using cardboard is a much healthier, less damaging way to help start your native plant project from scratch.
"There's been a fair bit of weeding involved, but zero watering (other than natural precipitation) and zero mowing," they added. "I love it, and so do the bees!!"
In that comment, they described three huge benefits of native plant gardens. While monoculture lawns require constant watering to keep looking green, native plants are far more suited to the local environment and can handle the conditions. That means they will thrive in weather that traditional grass lawns might struggle in. Reduced water use — which can also be achieved by xeriscaping — saves a vital resource that can often be restricted in warmer months.
Meanwhile, native plants often take care of themselves. This means they require less maintenance, which will save you time and money.
The flowers also provide a pollination station for bees, which helps to secure food supplies and benefits us all. Other pollinators like birds and butterflies would also be encouraged to visit a gorgeous wildflower garden.
Other Redditors were impressed by what they saw, with one commenting: "This is simple, beautiful! I just bought a home with a lot of yard, 1acre. And I hope to do something like this to a portion in the back."
"Oh, that's so stunning!" added another, while one user said, "I am absolutely in love with this!"
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