In August, one homeowner showed the r/NoLawns subreddit a yard straight out of every member's dreams.
Lawns are traditional in the U.S., but it's a landscaping choice that takes a lot of water, fertilizer, and effort to maintain for something so unproductive and lacking in character.
That's why many people — especially the users on r/NoLawns — have started rejecting lawns in favor of vegetable gardens, xeriscaping, native plants, and, of course, flowers.
"We have a lawnmower but we don't use it," said this Redditor. Instead, they let their yard grow into a riot of differently-colored flowers, some of which reached up to the eaves of the house in the photos the original poster provided.
Depending on which option an anti-lawn homeowner chooses, they can save water, support local wildlife, or simply enjoy beautiful flowers in their yard. This Redditor chose a combination of all three.
"We started in the middle with some drought tolerant plants and succulents, and slowly spread out with wildflowers and (mostly) natives," the user explained in a comment. "There are little habitats all throughout the yard. I was just showing the north patch. It's really magical to be out there."
Local pollinators also appreciate the beautiful garden. The original poster showed off one picture of a hummingbird perched on one of their plants.
"It's aloe. They love it," the Redditor said when asked about the species.
According to the original poster, the yard had come a long way from its beginning as a boring lawn. In one comment, they shared their "starting photo" from just a couple of years earlier. The image included a flat, dead lawn, with one row of newly planted flowers and succulents running down the middle.
Other users shared their own garden experiences in the comments.
"It was odd letting the lawnmower go once I'd finally given up on the grass," said one commenter. "There are more no lawns around here than before I took out all my grass but they are all different … [I'm] happy that some folks aren't defaulting to [a] boring and wasteful lawn."
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