Have you ever dreamed about walking out your door and having a garden of flowers waiting to greet you?
One California resident created such a place right on their front lawn. The bright flowers caught the attention of a neighbor, who posted a photo of the colorful garden under the subreddit r/gardening.
With the sun sitting low in the background, the Redditor describes the illuminated scene of colors as a "fairy garden."
Whether it's a fairy garden you crave or even a mini jungle, you may be on your way to becoming part of a growing trend known as rewilding. With homeowners in the U.S. spending an average of about $500 a year on lawn maintenance, going wild offers a chance to save money.
But replacing a manicured lawn with native flora is more than just a way to save dollars. It is seen as an important way for citizens to reintroduce biodiversity while eliminating harmful pesticides. It also helps to cool our planet by increasing the number of trees and plants. And rewilding your lawn eliminates the need for watering and the energy required for mowing.
Benjamin Bogt, an expert garden designer, explained in an interview with the Guardian, "With a shift in habits, your yard can change from a chemically drenched monoculture of little ecological value to a patch of land that supports critical biodiversity."
One of the best things about rewilding is that you don't have to commit yourself to a full-scale forest in your front yard. One way to contribute is to create a "tapestry lawn," which is more like the type of rewilding in the Reddit post. By simply planting a variety of low-growing native flowers and grasses, your yard will attract beneficial pollinators and can still be used as a space for children and pets to play.
If you don't have the space, rewilding can also be done by adding some native flowers to a container to be placed in any open space.
In some places, homeowners associations (HOA) have become an obstacle to rewilding, but a growing number of homeowners are fighting back.
Many Redditors showed support in their comments. "This is the garden of my dreams!! It's beautiful," wrote one user.
Another poster made it clear they saw the need for change by asking, "Why can't this be the norm….?"
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