When one Redditor wanted to show just how far they'd brought their front yard, they turned to Google Street View for dated snapshots of the past.
"Before/after of my front garden, thanks to Google Street View!" they said in their r/gardening post. The beloved gardening subreddit boasts almost 6 million members and is "a place for the best guides, pictures, and discussions of all things related to plants and their care." Gardeners often post photos of their works in progress or their successful plantings.
In this case, the Redditor's "before and after" photos are screenshots with Google's familiar menu and controls visible around the edges. The "before" image, dated April 2016, shows a small home with an ordinary turf grass lawn split by a driveway and a sidewalk. While a few trees and bushes decorate the edges of the property, the yard is unremarkable.
In the "after" shot, dated June 2019, the grass is gone, replaced by an incredible assortment of flowers and plants. On the left side of the yard are two large raised beds with trellises for a vegetable garden. The plants are flourishing, and some have grown as tall as a person.
In the photo caption, the original poster clarifies that the garden wasn't planted until September 2018, just nine months before the "after" photo. In that short time, they managed a total transformation.
"The parking strip is 100% natives," they commented. The narrow patch of ground between the sidewalk and road, also called a "hellstrip," is notoriously difficult to grow plants on, but this Redditor isn't the only one who's had luck planting native species there.
Besides enjoying beautiful flowers, the Redditor saves money by cutting back on watering. "The yard is non native but drought tolerant (I watered about once a month this summer)," they said.
"Do you do the Backyard Habitat Program too?" asked one commenter, referring to a program by the Portland Audubon Society to promote backyard landscaping that supports wildlife. "So many great resources, I really like it."
"We do!" the original poster replied. "I'm ready to be certified except for an ongoing ivy/blackberry problem along the back fence."
"Wow, this looks beautiful," said another commenter.
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