• Home Home

New homeowner seeks advice on transforming unconventional yard without breaking housing rules: 'How do I start?'

"I'd much rather have a nice purple wildflower yard than a lawn."

"I'd much rather have a nice purple wildflower yard than a lawn."

Photo Credit: iStock

A brand-new homeowner posted to Reddit hoping to learn how to transition their current lawn to a lovely wildflower landscape.

The post explained that their new home came with a covenants, conditions, and restrictions document. One of the requirements is that the yard cannot be disheveled. They were open to different natural lawn options, like clover. But they emphasized their desire for pretty flowers.

The new homeowner said, "I'd much rather have a nice purple wildflower yard than a lawn."

So they asked Reddit: "How do I start? How do I maintain it? And how do I trim/cut the yard without cutting down the wildflowers once they are there?"

Redditors were quick to recommend many native wildflower ground cover options. Some varieties mentioned were blue-eyed grass, frogfruits, Florida pusley, sunshine mimosa, pale lavender wildflower, pink muhly grass, purple love grass, and blue plumbago. The thread showcases how many Florida native plants could replace a traditional lawn.

All of these flowers would create a beautiful natural lawn. These native plants are attractive, but they also require little maintenance and money. You don't have to worry about mowing or watering them.

Watch now: AITA for refusing to pay my HOA for destroying my garden?

AITA for refusing to pay my HOA for destroying my garden?
0 seconds of 1 minute, 4 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
01:04
01:04
 

These native flowers would also make local pollinators happy. Bees and butterflies need native plants to pollinate. Without pollinators, the world's food crops would be in jeopardy. A natural lawn is a superb way to support these important little creatures.

One commenter noted this about sunshine mimosa and frogfruit, saying, "They benefit your native ecosystem and are low growing ground cover."

Another pointed out that HOA and CC&Rs can't prevent you from cultivating native plants. They said, "Florida law says HOAs can't stop you from using Florida-friendly landscaping practices."

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.

Someone else mentioned the low-maintenance advantages of rewilding the yard with pale lavender wildflower: "It's short, so you wouldn't mow it. From a distance people passing by would think it's grass."

No matter which native plant OP chooses, they'll get a lovely, low-effort, low-cost front lawn and backyard.

Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more and waste less, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.


Cool Divider