If you’re someone who likes hopping onto Zillow to gawk at houses, one homeowner’s revamped backyard is the garden version of that.
They took to the r/NoLawns subreddit to show off the ongoing project that’s taken two-and-a-half years and over $10,000 in spending to pull off.
Photo Credit: Reddit
Photo Credit: Reddit
The pictures show that the dedicated gardener’s time and money were well-spent. They’d definitely met the challenge of a steeply sloping backyard with bland features and turned it into a beautiful garden with gravel paths and rock walls.
They’d also leaned into features that were already there as they found the yard. Take a deer path they inherited on the property. Rather than hiring a landscape architect, they used it to create their own gravel path. Another example is their use of logs from felled trees for the retaining walls.
The OP didn’t do all the work alone. They credited their gardener for helping with all the stonework and other features, such as the stairs. That being said, they could take credit for a lot of the grunt work of reusing logs for retaining walls and digging up ground to set up their paths. They also did lots of planting, including succulents and trees.
In a reply about how they chose what to plant and where, they admitted there was a lot of trial and error in their Bay Area lawn, given its microclimate and potential for drought. From the looks of their thriving garden, though, it’s clear there were more hits than misses.
While their transformation was definitely on the more ambitious side, it can still act as inspiration. Choosing a garden over grass is beneficial in sloped areas, reducing water runoff and the risk of landslides.
Native lawns are also advantageous in dry climates, as the plants are more accustomed to local conditions. Replacing traditional grass with native plants or gravel paths can significantly reduce the need for watering and mowing while also supporting pollinators critical to food sources.
The OP’s saga clearly didn’t happen overnight, and incremental moves to introduce native plants and cut down on grass are beneficial all the same. That being said, the extensive work wowed Redditors.
“You practically turned it into an enchanted forest!” one gawked.
“It looks fabulous compared to the wasteland it was before,” another said. “Congratulations, that looks like a lot of hard work.”
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