My area is full of lawns. Green lawns. Should be illegal here. We live in a freakin' desert, not Ireland. (I think Nevada just outlawed new lawns, hoping CA does too.)
With our current heat wave (2 weeks long so far of temps over 100 every day), we decided to go ahead and kill the lawn and curb strip. (Water bills here are ridiculous - $400 a month - but this already reduced it to $200!)
This week I am meeting with a person I call my Ginger Bear Tree Nerd. He is an expert at one of our local nurseries, to redesign the front. A desert-scape.
Long story short, we also accidentally killed 3 trees, natives (Jacaranda, desert willow). Not our fault. The neighbors all use their sprinklers too much, and our front yard was becoming a bog.
My landscaper gave us an estimate and he will be removing 8 inches of soil and using 8 inches of sand and decomposed granite to regrade our front yard so the water from neighbors doesn't pool.
GBTN and I will work on installing plants that are native, including putting a plant barrier of Hopseed - which can absorb the extra water from the neighbors but is technically a desert plant.
Some plants I have in mind: palo verde, yucca, agave, deer grass, elephant food, whale's tongue, hopseed, nopal.
Prior owners have left old growth roses which are noisette type and so they don't use much water, and they're pretty so I'll keep them in their flower beds.
Will post a pic in late October when the project is completed!
My landscaper gave us an estimate and he will be removing 8 inches of soil and using 8 inches of sand and decomposed granite to regrade our front yard so the water from neighbors doesn't pool.
Don't let them haul away your topsoil- that stuff is gold. You can use it to make a raised bed somewhere else in the yard. There are lots of things you can use it for, even if you just pile it somewhere in the back until you decide what to do with it.
I have a saying for my property, "less mowing, more growing".
Slowly adding butterfly bushes, gooseberries, black raspberries and other fruits, with the mighty oak tree in the center of the front yard, I have enrolled in my own applied biology course.
No grades here, but I have been blessed with butterflies, birds of all sorts, and in the early evening hummingbirds, followed by lightning bugs and then owls as the night draws on.
@ana I LOVE American Meadows!!! I got a glorious wildflower mix for my Zone and made a large section of yard.. Meadow. I also just ordered clover seed to help with my all natural yard of "weeds" (a weed is just a plant growing where someone doesn't want it) I already have clover and a mix of grasses,mosses, and local wildflowers like milkweed, lyre leaf sage , plantain,dandelion,false dandelion and more. I want to convert to all clover as much as possible. I have planted native trees as well such as redbud and persimmon etc. My several varieties of oaks and pines and hackberry and black cherry and sweet gum and such provide a lot of shelter and food for local wildlife. I enjoy lots of birds, small mammals such as squirrels, chipmunks, possums, armadillos,raccoons etc and rat snakes,frogs,toads etc. Deer come through the yard sections not fenced off. There is a lot of growth happening in this area ..losing rural status and being semi-rural ... just in our county alone 1300 new homes are being built currently and more grocery stores and land that was home to my wild neighbors is being lost at an alarming rate. We also have black bear, coming in to yards more and more, coyotes and foxes and bobcats. I will provide shelter,food and water resources as much as I am able. I also pray that they leave enough green space to let the creatures live in peace. It's as much their homes as any humans.. yet they are given little regard or care around here. Not even thought of by many.
@ana There is a lot of growth happening in this area ..losing rural status and being semi-rural ... just in our county alone 1300 new homes are being built currently and more grocery stores and land that was home to my wild neighbors is being lost at an alarming rate.
I hate when that happens!!! It's absolutely visceral for me. The family homestead was in the semi-rural stage when I was growing up and now it's part of the megalopolis. I spent my childhood watching the encroachment. My reaction was to buy a fixer-upper in an urban historic district (of a different city) so I'd never have to watch adjacent woods being torn down. (And the house had been vacant for several years, so I restored it to useful housing stock thus (hopefully) making one less new house needing to be built. )
@ana It was the "talk of the town" in the numbers of black bears and deer that were "urbanizing"... along with the raccoons and coyotes who adapted to "urban living" many years ago around here.
Many complaining bitterly of their presence and wanting them destroyed/eliminated. Heartbreaking really people...cause.. they were here first and y'all keep taking their homes away from them and complaining when they adapt and share YOUR home!!!
There are better answers for all out there... just getting these people to relax and become less rigid in their thinking about the sentient life we share habitat with is the big first step I feel.
Front yard project is DONE!!!! We ripped out the lawn and replaced it with desert friendly and mostly native plants, decomposed granite sand instead of topsoil, and gravel instead of mulch. Looking forward to lower water bills. Happy to undo the ridiculousness of grass in a desert valley where we're running out of water - what is this, Ireland??
@jeanne-mayell @bluebelle @lovendures @unk-p
@laura-f, I love what you've done to the front yard! And it works beautifully with the house. I live in Virginia and would love to rip up our front lawn, but need more direction on what to plant. I grew up in the city and I'm not a big gardener. Of course native plants, and something low maintenance.
Love the pop of red door in the picture.
Laura, congratulations. Nice work. You have inspired me and no doubt others with you brave and bold choice.
Hope to go lawless sometime next summer. Am hacking away at it (literally, my lawn is getting smaller as I add new natives).