Guys, as the person who started no lawns on Reddit (and here) my yard is a disaster lol. I work outside all day and the last thing I want to do when I get home is yard work. That being said, I removed a bunch of invasives from my yard Monday and I’m working on a plan to tackle a corner of my yard the way I’ve always wanted to in NoLawns style with native plants. I’m always open to suggestions for the Chicago area!
Ever since i heard of this concept i was very interested. Love the idea of planting something other than grass that takes less or no water. I think thats awesome so thanks for making these communities!
As for your lawn, we all get busy man. Stuff falls through the cracks. Dishes dont get done, laundry goes unfolded and some shrubs get a bit too long but thats ok.
Haha isn’t that the truth?
Haha my yard is also a mess although that doesn’t bother me. It’s got lots of little nooks and crannies for critters to hide, lots of leaf litter, multiple stories of vegetation. It’s hands off but I plant something back there once or twice a year. I get a fair amount of wildlife back there, including forest-obligate bird species so even though few people would call it beautiful, I think I’m doing OK with it.
Maybe we should have a no-judgement day or thread so people can post their yards without worrying how close they are to the platonic ideal of a perfect native plant garden.
That’s a great idea! I work 10 hour days with an hour commute each way. I definitely pay someone to deal with my yard lmao
I’m in the PNW so we don’t have a lot of overlap in native species, however I can recommend selfheal. Selfheal is a great ground cover that’s native to much of the US (including Cook Co). If you let it grow it gets to be about a foot high, but you can also mow it and it’ll stay more grass height. It produces little purple flowers and is evergreen in my area (but probably not yours). I haven’t had any luck getting it to self propagate or germinate from seeds I’ve spread in the yard, but the plants I’ve germinated in pots (super easy) and planted in the ground have established and are still doing great years later. In other words, you can grow in amongst grass ala clover, or let it grow as a standalone plant.
But I guess that leads me to my main question, which is do you want to forego having a “lawn” entirely, or do you still want an area that can support foot traffic, but populated with lawn-substitute plants (eg native grasses and grass-companions like clover and selfheal)?
