One of the best ways to learn about native plant gardening is to observe and be inspired by what other people are doing with their nontraditional lawns.
For example, one Reddit user posted photos of a yard's incredible progression from mowed grass to Japanese stiltgrass to biodiversity.
In the r/NativePlantGardening community, the original poster shared the story of moving into a home with a mowed lawn along a beautiful stream. A few years ago, after learning about native gardening from a Doug Tallamy book, the homeowner started letting the yard grow naturally and later pulled out the Japanese stiltgrass that began taking over the space.
"You can see now that this space in my yard now is WILD," the homeowner wrote. "I've added a few things like cardinal flower, turtlehead, a serviceberry, a button bush, and a clethra."
The homeowner now spends most of their gardening energy adding plants to a full-sun pollinator flower bed in the front yard because the space shown in the photos requires minimal time to remove invasive species.
"I plan to eventually make this space more landscaped with the species already provided so that people can enjoy it and not just wildlife!" they wrote. "I've already moved ferns and iron weed from this wild area into my more formal garden space in the front yard."
This Reddit post offers a fantastic example of a wild yard that has benefited from removing grass and embracing native plants.
Pulling non-native, invasive plants by hand takes a lot of work initially, but that work quickly pays off as you reduce your long-term maintenance chores and support pollinators that protect our food supply.
Based in coastal Connecticut, the original poster shared that it's easiest to pull stiltgrass in August when it's long and before it seeds.
"I don't have the words to express how amazing the result of your hard work is," a Redditor commented. "Great job!! If I ever own land, I hope to do just as well."
"You must be so proud of this area!" admired another Redditor. "It feels so good to see your hard work pay off with biodiversity. And you're cleaning up our water!"
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