One homeowner saw an opportunity and seized it when their plumber had to dig up their front yard.
They posted looking for advice in r/NoLawns.
"Recently my watermain burst," they said. "It really couldn't be an easier time to redo things. Lots of grass got killed."
Their plan was to replace large areas of their former front lawn with mulch beds full of native plants and flowers.
"I've got lots of fun [plans] involving milkweed, switch grasses and other pretty native grasses, black-eyed Susan, coreopsis, hardy hibiscus, bee balm, phlox, coneflower, and all sorts of gorgeous natives," they said.
This is a great strategy because native plants are low-maintenance and low-water, which makes them cheap and easy to care for. Additionally, all these flowers will attract pollinators like bees, butterflies, and potentially even hummingbirds, which are good for the environment and fun to watch.
However, they didn't have completely free rein to rewild the space.
"I do need to make everything look neat, conventionally pretty, and tidy, as I live in a community with an HOA," they said. "Basically, because it's the front yard and I want to [play] nice with my HOA, I don't want to f*** around. I have been working on my HOA to let me create native gardens in the loads of unused space, so I want to make my yard very pretty."
HOAs are often against nontraditional yards — even attractive ones that save homeowners money. It's possible to change HOA rules, but this homeowner wanted to work with their association.
🗣️ Should HOAs be able to force homeowners to change their yards?
🔘 Absolutely not 💯
🔘 Yes — it's part of the deal 🤝
🔘 Only in extreme circumstances 🏚️
🔘 We should ban HOAs 🚫
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
"My issue is that I do need to replace some of the dirty/sandy/rocky area with grass," they said. "I was considering some grass mixed in with clover and creeping thyme. … What grass seed should I mix in that I plant that's least obnoxious to go along with the clover, creeping thyme, or whatever else I decide on?"
"You can plant native clovers in lieu of grass!" suggested one commenter. "You could also try finding some native grasses to sprinkle in, or yarrow! Clovers will probably look the most lawn like, though."
"Regarding your lawn-ish pathways, my personal opinion is to just use cheap turf grass from a hardware store. … I'm not a fan of clover personally, because similar to creeping Charlie, it spreads into my native plant beds," another user cautioned.
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