I’ve been systematically reducing the amount of turf in my front yard for the past several years. I work on it section by section.
I spend less time mowing and use far less water. I have no regrets and don’t miss that turf at all.
Plant list mentioned in the video:
Hilltop Planting
Lemon Candy Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Podaras 3’ PP2,363)
Golden Rocket Barberry (Berberis thunbergii ‘Golden Rocket’ PP18,626)
Island Border under Tree
Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa ‘Aureola’)
Weigela florida ‘Alexandra’ (Wine & Roses PP10772 CBR2642)
Boxwood (Buxus microphylla japonica ‘Winter Gem’)
Sea of Gold™ Juniper (Juniperus x Pfitzeriana ‘Monsan’)
Cranesbill x ‘Rozanne™’
Pulmonaria ‘Silver Bouquet’
Heuchera ‘Obsidian’
Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’)
Thanks for watching.
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📩 sue@gardenmoxie.com
#gardeningtips #gardening #lowmaintenance
50 Comments
Your neighbor sounds like my Dad. He was obsessed with his lawn & never understood why someone wouldn't want to mow 3 times a week & have large monthly water bills. You've done a beautiful job & it's exactly what I want to do, especially creating some front yard privacy.
Your yard is beautiful and I appreciate all the hard, hard work that has gone into your vision for your new landscape. AND as for your neighbors…..their rude comments are probably followed with their rude dogs depositing on your lawn!
What a wonderful transformation.
Beautiful!! Lawn only yards belong to people lacking creativity.
❤ it is beautiful and I'd rather have a neighbor like u than someone who just likes grass I'd say they r jealous😢 u did a great job like I said it's beautiful😊
A comment like that is beyond rude. You’ve done a great job and I’m totally inspired!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful process of gardening with all of us. We should all remember that grass not only cost a lot, but it’s damaging to the ecosystem. Japanese beetles live under the grass for 11 months out of the year only to emerge and destroy our flowers. I really love how you created a visual barrier with your island beds. Ultimately our gardens are for us to enjoy so we should all create what we like. Although I do understand the pressure I also receive it because I have a backyard that my predecessor is completely paved over to create a giant parking lot driveway for me. My front yard is the only place I can garden.
Your yard looks beautiful. I was just telling my husband that we should do the same. We can never get the grass growing thick. You have inspired me! Thank you!
I’m doing the same thing. But I have a tiny yard and I have to be careful with sloppy drain route.
I’ve had people ask me why I have so many “weeds” in my yard and then I explain all the medicinal uses for the plants. I also put up a sign that says herb garden, they just look like weeds.
First time watcher! Love your moxie.
Grass is boring. I like yours planting much better!
Your front yard is FAR more interesting than your neighbors' boring foundation shrub border next to their house. Well done!
I’m slowly eliminating my lawn too, here in Houston. In my last new expansion, I planted only native plants, so not only is my lawn smaller, which is good for many reasons, but adding natives helps wildlife— especially birds (and butterflies) . If birds don’t have native plants, they don’t have the insects and berries that they rely on. The more nonnative plants we put in, the fewer birds there will be. A recent study done on this had shocking and devastating results. Our bird population is plummeting. Your garden is magnificent. I hope going forward you will consider adding native plants to your beautiful beds. Bonus: they grow naturally in your area, so they don’t need supplemental watering. Butterflies need specific plants for their caterpillars to eat—think monarchs and milkweed— and if you want to see beautiful butterflies in your yard, planting native host plants is the way to do it. Happy gardening!
"You should have left the grass – my dog really enjoyed peeing on it." -The neighbor.
That is so beautiful. We are currently do a similar thing. We are a corner unit but we have a lot of turf. We are creating a lot of flower beds to create privacy and beautiful nature. I really don't under stand why Americans love turf so much. Its really a lot of work. We have a lawn guy but with 0.89 acre property its really expensive to keep up with water, chemicals etc. Our neighbors have only said to us you are doing more than the prev. owners. We are the 3rd owners and have been doing so much to the house and land. Flower bed maintance is only spring and fall grass is every week. so less work in the long run.
You GO GIRL!!! It all looks wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow! You have some crazy neighbors! It's gorgeous! There's plenty of grass left! What you did was smart financially, horticulturally, and aesthetically. You've added lots of drama to your property! The view from in front of your ninebark hedge looking back to the redbud tree is stunning!
I love love love 💕 what you are doing with your lawn! Keep on going, I’ll cheer you on and keep watching for updates and ideas so I can do the same!💕💕🏡🪴
Well done. Looks awesome
You may be interested in Wild Ones a native plant group that has chapters across the US. And Roy Diblik, he teaches about matrix planting, everything ties together. Both have helpful youtubes.
In your video, "Where Do You Start?," I thought the line of redbud trees was particularly lovely. Could you focus on that section of the garden and give the name of the cultivar and how you got the redbuds to present themselves in such a light, open manner. (Is it the variety? a situation of reduced sunlight? deliberate and consistent pruning?)
Thank you.
P.S. I find that a focus on one aspect of the garden (numbers of one cultivar used. combinations of plants, etc, is helpful).
Absolutely fantastic video!
Great design tips also.
Love your overall positive message for a DIY landscape project.
Thanks for sharing!
I've been catching up on your videos. I see you're way ahead of me on giving the number of each cultivar you're planting. Thank you.
What you did is smart. I'm doing the same thing in Florida. Fertilizers and chemicals are destroying our waterways.
Everything looks lovely. You have inspired me to transform my front lawn as well. Working on convincing my husband, he looooves his lawn 😀
It looks beautiful! I love that you did not let your neighbors' comment get you off track.
I just bought an apartment with a small area to garden. After being told I could do what I wanted it seems the municipality is requiring grass! I wanted flowers, ornamental shrubs & grasses with decorative stones and a slate walkway. My nosy neighbor told my landscaper I they don’t like stones and it should be a lawn. It’s 2×4 would require a sprinkler system and will not get water because of water restrictions in the summer. The architect says it must be green. What is good about wasting water and adding pesticides to our drinking water. It is a lakefront property with endangered turtles, beautiful swans and ducks.
Good for you I have a neighbor who has a butterfly/pollinator garden instead of a lawn and it is delightful!
I love your change! I just bought a home where no one ever improved the back yard! Just dirt! As soon as the trees leaf and I can identify them correctly I will be doing what you did! Having fun designing a grass free back yard!!!
Very smart decision!!! It's beautiful!
Your neighbours don't know what they are talking about. It is none of their business anyway. They may be jealous that your garden is so much better than theirs. It's beautiful and not boring like theirs . 👍
Your neighbors are nuts. Looks great, love your front yard! 💐🌿🌱🌲
What amazing work, that's a big space. Your planting looks lovely, really harmonious movement with the tree shadows. I hope it brings you many years of joy ❤ (I'm a Scottish gardener, also removing lawn and replacing with plants).
I like the front planted up. I like the plants and the colors. I am surprised that you think you save on your water bill, but perhaps you made a lot of choices based on how thirsty the new plants are. I made an island and a curved, ten foot wide berm filled with plants along a 200 ft sunny grassy side of my yard along the road, and it uses lots and lots of water, more than the grass ever did, but the soaking drips down the slope into my yard and enhances the grass. I am sorry your neighbor made a crack you didn't like about your lawn. It's your lawn. You don't tell him what to do with his. It is ironical to me that some of the people who have the perfect lawns think it is the simplest thing, and spend lots of cash on it or have professionals in all the time, and especially there are those who yammer on about everything organic, and you see the lawn service come and spray the weed killer, and the fertilizers and they are the same ones who run the sprinkler system when the town says not to water. Green front yard grass is simple if someone else does it and pays for it. So here is a rule, that helps everyone: You should have just enough grass that you can cut yourself, and water sufficiently, and keep looking nice, or that you can pay someone else to provide for you. I think I still have too much grass. My own street border has deer resistant choices, box and pjm rhodies, alberta spruce, catmint, butterfly bushes, japanese windflowers, rugosas, autumn rudbekia, day lilies, magnolias, hydrangeas and day lilies, which need protecting from time to time, but usually are fine. I usually spray deer spray when the plants are little and can be ruined, and put in tomato cages occasionally, and spray when the daylilies bloom along the edge of the property where they can bite them off. They ate up all my ROSEANNE GERANIUMS. I can't fence the deer out because the fence has to be 15 feet from the road where I live, so it would not help. But someday I could have a cute short garden fence that would not affect at all the critters that want to come in and eat or ruin things. One thing I have found for sure is that if you dig an island bed, and don't like it, the grass grows right back in, if it was grassy to start, and you did not go very deep.
Grass is lovely and gives a person’s eyes someplace to rest while looking at vast areas. One can strike a balance and have both – I live in a 9b zone – no late spring rains usually and no summer rains so we depend on irrigation for the dry months. I can only speak for my lawn, but even when the temps hit 105, 110 degrees or higher, our grass stays green with watering it two days a week (our lawn is dwarf fescue and perennial ryegrass) Key is to deep root watering and there are some great organic fertilizers to help it stay that way. Plus grass helps to cool the air and pets and birds and other wildlife love it. Now having said this, gardeners can make the choice that best works for them. I personally find no lawn quite sad, but I am not paying your water bill (which ours is quite high too, but I don’t have the size of garden you have either) I’ve no doubt that whatever you decide will be lovely ☺️ My favorite garden style is English and even though our summers are dry and hot, with some careful planning and placement I can have a beautiful garden filled with flowers and happy birds, and that is a delight to our neighbors as well. Happy gardening all – and I am enjoying your channel 🪴🌺🌸💐
Take out ALLLLLL the grass! That’s what I’m doing. It’s a process. But worth it. 👌🏻
Yes.
What are those tall bushes along the side.
Hello. I am Grand Rapids MI. Howdy Michigander😊
My neighbor loves his lawn and told me he could never do what I do. Said he thought it was too much work. I reminded him it’s his lawn that takes up alot of time, work and water. Meanwhile I keep cutting out grass and replacing with more plants every year in mine.😂
Well done from Texas
Your house and yard are beautiful.
I have large areas where the grass is gone and seeded for white clover. My goal is to remove the entire lawn of grass because I refuse to water it and by July it's mostly brown.
It's beautiful!
Your only oversight (but a big one) is the lack of native plants.
I agree with having less grass: what you have done in your landscape is gorgeous
I love it!
what about no dig method? wouldn't that be easier then trying to remove all that grass..? I think grass lawn everywhere is not pretty, not necessary and frankly shows lack of refinement for better word, like only Americans are so obsessed with lawn , my cohabitant is soooo against me digging his boring gray lawn , he is convinced I am ruining his yard! but thats exactly what it is – a yard , boring and ugly without any personality … and it could be a beautiful garden !! full of color and blooms , texture and beautiful plants that require less maintenance then his gray dry lawn 🤪😁😂
Thank you! I’m in the process of tearing up my lawn for the same reasons. I’m planting trees, annuals and perennials.