Turning your backyard lawn into a native wildflower garden

My friend Karen turned 600 square feet of her backyard into a wildflower meadow full of native plants. She first removed the grass by sheetmulching with cardboard and organic mulch. She placed this material down in fall, and by early next spring, the grass was dead and the ground was bare and ready to be planted. She purchased plugs and small plants from Prairie Moon Nursery and planted them in the spring of 2021. Many of them bloomed and did well in their first year. This year, they filled in the empty spaces and grew larger and bloomed more prolifically. Karen saw a huge return in wildlife like bees, butterflies, birds and more.
Let's all try to restore native plants to our properties, if possible!
Here is the full planting list of what Karen planted:
Coneflowers (Echinacea spp.)
Rudbeckia spp. (Brown-eyed Susan, Black-eyed Susan, Cutleaf Coneflower)
Blue Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum)
Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum)
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
New York Aster (Aster novi-belgii)
Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum spp. - Narrow-leaf MM, Clustered MM)
American Senna (Senna hebecarpa)
Good luck with your garden!

[@ElliotPorter65]

This gives me faith for the future, thank you!

[@Voyajer.]

I've started introducing natives back into my family farm. There was already a few species established, like lyreleaf sage in the forest edge, and ironweed in the cattle fields since the cows don't touch them. But now I've established Plains Coreopsis and black eyed susan and especially the coreopsis has taken off all over in one year. I've also started some purple coneflower in milk jugs and distributed the seedlings around with some of the more rare milkweeds to the area.

[@fuckmyego]

I know multiple people who did something like this and their neighbors got upset that they "ruined their clean lawn. " people are the worst, sometimes. This is so much nicer than a lawn that isn't even native.

[@ThisIsATireFire]

My neighbors spend over 3k/yr on just lawn chemicals to get a uniform green carpet. They brag about it. I'm slowly turning our property into a bunch of slightly overgrown cottage gardens filled with natives. The neighbors hate me. But we're both on 3/4 acre outside of any town or city limits so the neighbors can't do anything about it. I just have to figure out how I want to divert their lawn runoff when it rains so that their chemicals quit messing up where I want to put my bog garden.

[@user-us3xi7se5b]

@@ThisIsATireFire Your neighbors are still subscribed to the 70's housing marketing with the freshly cut grass and the white picket fence. Good to know people that don't think can have 3k to blow on a lawn. BTW 3k for some good soil, grass seeds, and good sun? None of the chemicals are necessary🤦‍♂ 3k to grow grass... Your neighbor needs to admit he has a brown thumb and doesn't know a single thing about plants. All those chemicals going in to the groundwater🤮

[@zap4980]

@@ThisIsATireFire Good for you ❤️🙏🏽❤️🙏🏽❤️ 🌸🌺🌸🌺🌸🌺🌸🌺🌸🌺🌸

[@zap4980]

@@user-us3xi7se5b Facts 💚

[@KJ7Tillymann]

@@ThisIsATireFirewhat about a rain garden? There’s plenty of plants that can filter runoff through their roof system and can handle the stress well. I’m thinking some sort of grass, but I’m sure there are flowers that can be planted for this purpose as well

[@linwong1494]

As someone from HK, I’m envious of how much space you guys get to grow stuff! I’ve always wanted to just do some sneaky native plant planting, but it’s difficult with so little available space. Even with pots, unless you have a balcony, it really doesn’t mean much for the wildlife. Also there’s this horrible Mikania weed that’s been rapid taking over the mountain side I live on, and it’s been really sad watching it shade out all the trees over the years. Watching your videos where you help trees with these problems with Ivy/Bittersweet has been cathartic, but I’m really itching to just go out there and do it myself since no one is (it is dangerous though, as our slopes are very steep and I have no experience :( ) Anyways, really happy you popped up on my recommendations! It’s always lovely to learn more about nature, even if its not local to me :) Liked and Subbed!

[@Ealsante]

Oh my god Mikania (mile-a-minute) is absolutely the worst.

[@threeriversforge1997]

Don't let fear hold you back. You might be in a bad spot, but it will only get worse if you don't act. Edmund Burke famously wrote, "All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Will you do nothing? It's the easiest path in the world to take. Do nothing, or not. If you fight, you might lose. If you don't fight, you're guaranteed to lose.

[@exercisethemind]

This is really practical advice and an accessible suggestion for how average suburbanites can make a big difference in supporting biodiversity! Thank you!

[@Bluestone380]

Oh my gawd it’s the 300 perfect wii bowling guy

[@threeriversforge1997]

I haven't got much, but I'm still on the Homegrown National Park bandwagon! The more we do, the better.... and every little bit helps!

[@yeahminecraft1627]

I live in southern Wisconsin and a few years back we just decided to stop mowing our front lawn because of the rough terrain and a like 40ish year old hills oak that was getting large enough that it was getting in the way. So we just let it grow wild - the only things we planted was a lady fern and and a cinnamon fern, plus the flowers that were already in the adjacent garden. Now, the whole yard is basically a prairie and its so much nicer - its full of native goldenrod (of course lol), but there are a bunch of other natives too - cup plants, a royal catchfly that grew last year, even a sensitive fern grew wild in the shade, and two species of trilliums. I also planted a northern maidenhair fern under the oak tree. The only issue with it however is that leaving it alone a bunch if invasive bindweed, bishop’s weed, and creeping bellflower began to take over, and its really hard to get rid of. I’m going to try to really rip it all out this year but that stuff is aggressive as hell. And no, we planted none or those invasives, they spread from nearby

[@botanicaltreasures2408]

Andrew, Fantastic transformation from turf to pollinator buffet! Looks great!🌿🌼🐝.Two years ago a tornado hit our neighborhood and took out some established trees leaving a lot of bare areas. My husband and I got permission to put in several flower gardens and some of our neighbors followed suit. Now the neighborhood looks a whole lot better and is much more pollinator friendly. I show the changes in my recent video. “After the Tornado, the Neighborhood Gardens.” One of my favorite ongoing projects is the Streamside garden. We were thrilled to see some native fish spawning in the stream this Spring pictured in our latest video “Streamside Symbiosis.”

[@Andrew_the_Arborist]

Thanks a lot! I will check these videos out :)

[@botanicaltreasures2408]

@@Andrew_the_Arborist 👩🏻‍🌾🌿

[@BenjaminGillespie-uk2wm]

absolutely amazing what can be done and we should stop wasting water on lawns and instead help flowers

[@PaulH206]

This looks so good, great work !

[@CandiYellowPeppers]

I hope to accomplish a larger flower garden for my vegetable and fruits next year.It’s amazing how much my garden improved by just adding new species of wildflowers in a different section of my garden then the previous year. I did pretty good this year learning how to grow zinnias, black eye Susan’s, mist flowers and bachelor buttons. I plan on combining these four kinds of wildflowers in other areas of my garden . My favorite part of gardening is seeing what my new flowers attract . I saw many different species of insects, bees,beetles,spiders, butterflies I never knew about. I love my outdoor classroom!!!!

[@B3OWULF416]

Awesome and beautiful. This is what I want to do. My landlord said he wouldn't mind when I asked. It would help his property look nice if I want.

[@rosemarymcbride3419]

did something similar but I played the long game. Whenever it was time to mow the lawn I would see what else besides grass had sprouted that I wanted to encourage. Each year the wildflowers would occupy a bit more space in the yard. This year all that encouragement paid off and the yard is full and now I only need to mow a few corridors so I can move about.

[@L_MD_]

Add somewhere for wildlife to drink water in there! ❤ I always think of that, I’m a wildlife carer and on the summer we get so many animals suffering from dehydration 😢

[@veroniqueverstichelen7371]

Thank you...beautiful and interconnected with earth and all living beings 💚🤩

[@MicklowFilms]

😊

[@davidb6576]

I've seen a number of your short videos, and must say that you do a great job of presenting interesting facts about trees and such, to the point that I, a very mechanical/electronics type of person now look out for them. Informative vids on almost any topic are always welcome onto my computer, and yours fit the bill.

[@ijahdagang6121]

Wow...beautiful flowers...

[@Thecastofthelast]

very cool! Karen is an awesome lady for working on this project! We did something similar in my family's backyard

[@SHEAdTeeVee]

Id love to do this in my small urban garden in downtown Philly. I'd love to know your suggestions on what to plant in my situation.

[@charliep5139]

I wish medians and other places like that did this

[@BeansSoup23]

Thanks for the advice

[@leahvogelsimpson]

I don't have a meadow perse but I have native wildflowers all around my house and in various other spots. Of course the cornflower have tried taking over but the coneflower, coreopsis etc are looking great right now. I had no idea I even had the coneflower it just came up out of nowhere.

[@larky3487]

If their native then you have a yard meadow 👍🥰 more people should be doing this.

[@Militant_Vegan]

U deserve so many more views wtf

[@Cherb123456]

Beautiful looking & awesome! Thanks!

[@angellas.1314]

My problem is the DEER! I live in CT. They just came thru and ate all of the day lilie blooms!! 😢😢😢 So upset!

[@hadleymanmusic]

im dirt workin my backyard. front yards not cut clover flower. when it dies I cross cuttin and every tire intersection I think ill do a sunflower. that way I can still mow the lawn between the flowers

[@murphy4trees]

can Southern Magnolia be cultivated from cuttings? I AM about to prune a beauty.

[@clifb.3521]

yeah Karen! / also yeah for a Karen not screaming someone down

[@ianhernandez4405]

ima need a step by step tutorial on how to make this happen in my own backyard-(south tx native plants)

[@PlantNative]

Go Karen!

[@desmomotodesmomoto2033]

Grass is bs.

[@s70driver2005]

We are trying to do this to a space where an old tree used to be and there's a spot in my backyard that i jist never cut and its starting to grow all kinds of things.

[@mo_1010]

These are all MD natives! I assume you guys live in the area then.

[@Unpainted_Huffhines]

Another plus is less grass to mow.

[@JillKnapp]

Just curious, is this in the northeast-ish? The goldfinch made me think NJ/PA/DE.

[@theweirdospfan.28]

I feel like milkweed should be illegal to cut without permission, and should be required to to be in everyone’s yard

[@mitchhak2]

Still making videos?

[@patriciabernard8386]

Nothing grows in extreme heat and drought even if you water!

[@skylarschell7858]

If you're in the eastern United States, there's probably quite a few species that could do just fine under those conditions. For example, if the area's sandy, things like eastern prickly pear will do just fine.

[@patriciabernard8386]

I have been growing prickly pear since the fifties. It also can be found growing wild in many places and many roadsides. I grow just about every common indigenous southern NJ plant in my 1/2 acre---dogwood, holly, sassafras, laurel, cedar, yucca, oaks, pines, and maples. Tea berries, lady slippers, Indian pipes, sheeps laurel and magnolias have died off.@@skylarschell7858

[@JT_Williams]

I'm from the UK and want to do something similar as a general rule what maintenance fo you need to do? Do you need to cut these back once all the flowers die off or just leave it all to nature?

[@joseywales6168]

flowers will do their thing and feed the next generation after death

[@skylarschell7858]

If they're native, they should just regrow the following year. Just make sure that there're no invasive plants taking over the area, and protect them from any animals, like deer, that might kill them by eating them.

[@LewieBear-fh7em]

Tell her that I said thank you 🙏 because native plants mean native insects. Also people should banned English ivy

[@maxsonthonax1020]

Just 5.x seconds too long to be an instant hit.

[@LlibertarianGalt]

Bio diversity is going to be suffering even more if all the carbon emission reduction programs stick to monoculture trees! I am planting a large variety where I live hoping it'll quietly spread to the vacant soil.

[@Andrew_the_Arborist]

Totally! Well done. Avoiding monocultures and planting so that an understory can survive is much better!

[@valeriexoxo]

What biodiversity crisis? 🥺 Shame on me but I don’t know about this.

[@skylarschell7858]

A lot of native plants have been displaced by habitat loss and other factors, with some even being completely wiped out in parts of their native range. For example, the area around my town (Western Indiana) was mined for slate and cleared for agriculture, so many native species, like paw-paws (Asimina triloba), have been wiped out around here. That loss of plant diversity affects the animals in our ecosystems too, which is why many species have seen significant declines in their populations. Planting native species in your area can help to undo the damage we've done, as can be seen in this video.

[@valeriexoxo]

⁠ thanks for responding ! Appreciate the explanation.