Traditional sod lawns require significant upkeep and watering to stay green. By planting native grasses throughout your garden, you can save time and money.
Creating pocket prairies in your landscape is a gardening hack that supports your lawn's ecosystem and helps your garden thrive. In a recent Instagram Reel, Briana Bosch (@blossomandbranchfarm) shares the benefits of incorporating pocket prairies in your outdoor spaces.Â
"I promise your efforts will be repaid," she says in the video.Â
The scoop
Instead of planting sod or fake turf throughout your lawn, Bosch explains the benefits of growing native species around your home. Wherever you have a little space in your garden or landscape, consider planting pocket prairies.
Pocket prairies are small outdoor areas that grow local plant species, including grasses and forbs. These types of native foliage gardens are pollinator and forager-friendly, attracting bees and birds.
"Birds are key to equalizing our ecosystem and reducing the amount of pests we have in our garden," says Bosch.
The fifth-generation farmer shares some of the native species she grows in her garden in Colorado: echinacea, aster, goldenrod, switchgrass, little bluestem, blue grama, and prairie junegrass.
Pocket prairies are also a low-maintenance lawn alternative that requires less watering.
"If the majority of us converted our lawns to native grasses and plants, it would not only reduce our watering needs but also help provide our struggling bird species with forage and habitat AND help our gardens!" Bosch wrote in the caption.Â
How it's helping
Since pocket prairies require less watering, you can prioritize your watering needs elsewhere, supporting other areas of your garden.
Pocket prairies also help to beautify concrete landscapes by adding natural foliage to urban areas. Growing these types of native gardens attracts wildlife and brings color into cities.
Including gardening in your daily routine has numerous benefits, including improving your mental and physical health.
When you grow your own produce and plants, you save money on groceries and reduce your environmental footprint. Each time you use food from your garden instead of purchasing items at the grocery store, you decrease the demand for mass-produced, globally-shipped produce.Â
What everyone's saying
Instagram users were excited to learn how native grasses support their yards.
"I would literally never have thought of this," commented one Instagrammer. "I just found your page and I feel SO GLAD I did! Amazing!"
"I have a pocket prairie and I didn't even know it!" wrote another user. "Thanks for helping me feel better about that 'problematic' part of my yard! Problem solved!"
Other users who already have pocket prairies discussed the beauty of these spaces.
"Native grasses! They are beautiful," wrote an Instagrammer. "Mine blow in the wind, beautiful. My yard is 100% Michigan native. Even native to this area. Love love love to walk and explore in my yard every chance I can."
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