Whenever I mow my front yard I go around any natives I see, because even though I want to save the natives, I can’t get over my desire for tidiness in the front yard. And while I’m swerving around my yard I can’t help but wonder what my neighbors think. I can’t bring myself to mow obvious natives and there were a bunch today. Today we saved some aster m, fleabane and violets, but I’m sure my neighbors think I’m crazy.
I also included a picture of my yarrow looking her absolute best today.
Anyone else finding surprise natives today?
by Suspicious_Note1392
10 Comments
Why don’t you just establish a few native flowerbeds with what you find in the yard? You can decorate them with cute things you find at yard sales or thrift shops. Don’t worry about your neighbors. Why is that important?
My god, look at that yarrow loaf!
Over the weekend, I mowed my yard for the first time this year and chose the highest setting solely so that I wouldn’t harm all the violets. My yard is a sea of purple. When the clover start blooming, I’ll mow around the biggest patches, leaving islands of white fluff all over the yard. I know they aren’t native but I just love clover.
Lol, I do the same. I also mow around the dandelions as I see heavy bee usage on them and don’t have the heart to mow them down. I also have big patches of long grass full of grasshoppers. Maybe they’ll think something is wrong with my mower 😉
Those look great! Keep an eye on the asters and fleabane in a couple months and you can spread the seeds wherever you prefer in the yard. That yarrow makes me want one ASAP.
I walk around my yard in the mornings barefoot picking Chinese privets and pistachios, looking at the same plants I checked on just the day before. Can’t imagine how that looks lol.
I have been enthusiastically checking on all my plants to see what is coming up or working on new leaves. I have hand pulled a few invasives and moved some leaves to the back of our yard but largely left the “messy” stuff alone despite a fair bit of puttering around time. I’m sure my neighbor is confused but she is too sweet to say anything.
Yeah my yard looks like this too I don’t care what the neighbors think.
Wait till you are crawling around on the ground in the dark with your head lamp bouncing around while you are getting that last plant in the ground before winter hits. That’s when to ask yourself what the neighbors think.
But seriously you gotta ease them into it as we all start somewhere. We’re those volunteers? That’s the awesome way to start. I did the same when goldenrod moved into my yard before I ever thought about native plants. The first fall they bloomed and were surrounded by hundreds of bees and wasps which became the catalyst for a whole yard transformation. My neighbors definitely think I’m nuts but some of them are taking my cue and starting themselves.
Just watch out if you have a mow happy neighbor that wants to “help” and mow everything down for you when you aren’t home. It happens all the time.
My neighbours have given me a lot of compliments on the recent changes I have made to the front yard to remove lawn and expand garden beds to plant native plants. I have use rocks for edging plus metal edging that is barely visible. I hate mowing the lawn and now it is so small, I simply weed whack the remaining grass. I think it is completely possible to have a tidy front yard that is mainly native plants.
I would consider expanding garden beds for native plants over the current lawn and just keeping the lawn as a border is that is your aesthetic preference.
For your original question, I recently move some ferns that were growing under the deck. I have also let a fireweed that started growing towards the back of my front garden expand. I have removed a few that will block out light from my ocean spray but the rest are in a good position so I will let them grow.
Getting a native volunteer is so nice! maybe you could transplant some of them to your garden bed? That yarrow is glorious :O