Ripping out front lawn, going with native plants - need design advice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are you going to have time to weed it or pay someone else to weed it? Garden beds are a lot more time consuming than a lawn. I don't use postcodes on my lawn and only fertilize once a year because I have a mulching mower. Are you going to be able to compost all the garden trimmings our will some end up in a landfill? There are a few weeds but it looks good enough for me. Maybe when I retire I'll turn the while thing into a garden, but it would be too much of a time suck. You could go for a bigger front garden but still maintain a little grass, which would give you more continuity with your neighbors. A water source for wildlife and more native plants would be a good idea in either .

Lawns are more intensive, but people have been train to do the work. A properly mulched bed is easy to maintain and is a lot easier vs a lawn.

I speak from experience of doing my own lawn care and gardening. I love working in the garden, and am not a big fan of lawncare, but the gardens take time to weed even with mulch. My garden beds are mostly full sun, which means that they get more weeds than shady areas. And we have problems with zoysia grass with tough underground stems invading our garden beds from our neighbors' lawns, which is the worst to try to pull up.

How do you deal with weeding the zoysia grass without wrecking your perennials.

[Anonymous]

I did this a few years ago. I didn't get professional design advice and it's very much cottage garden style, a mix of shrubs, perennials, and a small tree. A lot of natives, but not exclusively. It was a lot of work especially since I also amended the soil, but it was worth it. Every year, I get a lot of compliments from neighbors and passers-by, and my two closest neighbors have even taken part of their lawns out to do something similar. I live in an old neighborhood in DC with a lot of different front yard styles, so I wasn't a complete outlier.

It definitely is work to maintain because of the weeds (they grow well despite the shade), certainly more than the lawn we still have in the back to which we don't do anything except mow once a month or so. If you don't want to hire anyone, you definitely have to be into it.

[Anonymous]

You really do not need to amend the soil. The plants will take care of that over time. Just pick stuff that will work with your soil type. These plants have a large root systems when growing. When they go dormant about 60 to 70 percent of the roots die off. So each year the roots break the soil, die and add the dead roots material to the soil(deeper than you could dig). If you want to add stuff to the soil, just put it on top and it will get worked into the ground. This is why the prairie has great soils.

[Anonymous]

Ps you can also replace lawn area with buffalo grass. It a great way to prep an area for covertion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ps you can also replace lawn area with buffalo grass. It a great way to prep an area for covertion.

I second this recommendation. We planted buffalo grass (Prestige) in the front/back yard and love it. It takes a little while to establish but ours only grows 4-6 inches. You don't have to mow it. We do like twice a summer because we like the look but it's really nice. http://toddvalleyfarms.com/PrestigeBuffalograss.htm

[Anonymous]

awful

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:awful

Why do you think taking out the lawn is awful? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

This always makes the house look trashy. No one does this unless you like in a drought like area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This always makes the house look trashy. No one does this unless you like in a drought like area.

I think that my neighbors (and our collective home values) would disagree with you. We haven't gone the native route yet, but I think we will soon. If it is done well, it looks so good, and SO much less work!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This always makes the house look trashy. No one does this unless you like in a drought like area.

I think that my neighbors (and our collective home values) would disagree with you. We haven't gone the native route yet, but I think we will soon. If it is done well, it looks so good, and SO much less work!

I have never seen this done well, please provide pictures of what you think looks good.

[Anonymous]

http://www.tjhsst.edu/~dhyatt/graphics/garden.html

The home of Don Hyatt in Fairfax is one of the first ones that comes to mind. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.tjhsst.edu/~dhyatt/graphics/garden.html

The home of Don Hyatt in Fairfax is one of the first ones that comes to mind. . .

That is a lovely landscape. I cannot imagine anyone rejecting something like that on their street.

I think that there are landscapes that, while probably environmentally correct, lack the design strengths of the landscape in the photos. I know of a couple properties, near where I live, that do look out of place and lack connection with the adjoining yards and seem to cry for some organization. They both have a habitat sign in front, I guess to explain the appearance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.tjhsst.edu/~dhyatt/graphics/garden.html

The home of Don Hyatt in Fairfax is one of the first ones that comes to mind. . .

That is a lovely landscape. I cannot imagine anyone rejecting something like that on their street.

I think that there are landscapes that, while probably environmentally correct, lack the design strengths of the landscape in the photos. I know of a couple properties, near where I live, that do look out of place and lack connection with the adjoining yards and seem to cry for some organization. They both have a habitat sign in front, I guess to explain the appearance.

This is a 77 acre property, this is his full time retirement hobby and he still has grass. Please post an example of this on your typical 1/4 acre lot neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.tjhsst.edu/~dhyatt/graphics/garden.html

The home of Don Hyatt in Fairfax is one of the first ones that comes to mind. . .

That is a lovely landscape. I cannot imagine anyone rejecting something like that on their street.

I think that there are landscapes that, while probably environmentally correct, lack the design strengths of the landscape in the photos. I know of a couple properties, near where I live, that do look out of place and lack connection with the adjoining yards and seem to cry for some organization. They both have a habitat sign in front, I guess to explain the appearance.

This is a 77 acre property, this is his full time retirement hobby and he still has grass. Please post an example of this on your typical 1/4 acre lot neighborhood.

never mind i stand corrected it is a fairfax home. it does look lovely but read all my other points.

[Anonymous]

Good for you! I have no idea how to do it, but I bet there is someone in Takoma Park that you could hire as a consultant.

I've been meaning to do that myself, to come up with a plan for adding some native deer-resistant plants and trees to the backyard.