During the summer, yards and gardens come to life with lush greenery, flowers, and produce. One homeowner showed off the fruits of their labor with a gorgeous woodland meadow.
On Reddit, r/NoLawns is a community dedicated to lawn alternatives, from xeriscaping to native planting. These home gardeners are trying to move away from the monoculture of traditional grass lawns. One homeowner took to the page to show off their beautiful yard.
The photos shared show a small pond, tons of greenery, and several flowering shrubs. The poster captioned the images: "Trying to stick with more than 70 percent native. This is our fifth year." Five years of effort have really paid off — their garden is truly a magical oasis.
Making the change to plant a native lawn or garden can help save you money on watering and fertilizer and even cut down your mowing time. Growing local plants can help your surrounding ecosystem and benefit pollinators such as bees and birds.
Native gardening has grown significantly over the past several years. "The National Gardening Survey reported that the number of people purchasing native plants has almost doubled since 2019," according to the Louisiana State University AgCenter. "In addition, they reported a 10% increase year over year in people planting for bees, butterflies, and birds."
Commenters admired the poster's efforts. One person wrote: "It's beautiful. Wow. Even has a pond and forest. Life goals. I have no idea how I could manage that big of a property though."
Someone else said, "That is absolutely magical."
Another Redditor asked: "What species? I'm trying to convert a backyard under two large trees." The original poster responded, "There's a lot, but I'd say the most vigorous, colorful, and native in this part shade are: the monardas, obedient plant, black and brown eyed Susans, cardinal flowers, turtlehead, mountain mint, penstemon (my new favorite) and Joe pye weed."
Many of the species they have planted are on the native planting list for Zone 6b. Not only are these plants great for your local ecosystem, but they are also beautiful.
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