Homeowner shares amazing before-and-after photos 2 years after ripping out their lawn: ‘I’ve intentionally planted everything’

One homeowner on Reddit recently showed off the result of redoing their lawn two years ago.

Over the last few years, more and more people have decided that lawns aren’t for them. Other forms of landscaping look more interesting, take less work, save water, produce beautiful flowers or edible vegetables, and support local pollinators.

This Redditor was proud to join the ranks of homeowners embracing lawn alternatives. “Bought this Dallas lawn 2021,” they said, and shared eight before-and-after photos of what they did with it.

In the “before” images, the Redditor had used spray paint to mark large sections of their lawn, leaving only narrow strips of grass around the exterior.

The Redditor explained their process in a comment. “Summer 2021: killed it (whispers herbicide), cut it super low, removed clippings, power raked it, drilled in plant plugs, seeded fall. Spring 2022: seeded spring, drilled a few more plugs, kept it mowed under 12 inches, seeded fall. Spring 2023: let it do its thing.”

In the “after” photos, the entire middle section of the lawn was replaced by a blanket of stunning native flowers.

“All that coneflower looks like a little slice of a meadow in suburbia. I love it.,” said one commenter.

“Only few minutes from downtown, so urban,” said the original poster, adding, “Thanks!”

“I’m shocked the governor hasn’t personally shown up with a riding mower,” joked another user.

“Helps to use the official state grass (Sideoats grama) in your mix so you can ask any lawn lovers ‘why do you hate Texas?’” the original poster replied.

In another comment, they shared more about their strategy for making it hard for neighbors to complain.

“I’ve intentionally planted everything growing here,” they said. “Being able to identify them is important. But most important, there are a few things that signal intention…rock edge border, selecting species that top out at 3-4 ft, keeping a setback between property lines and sidewalks, using a trimmer on borders. There’s even a little bit of lawn left so snitchy neighbors can see me pushing around a mower every once in a while.”

The original poster seemed satisfied with the results — and the attention they got from neighbors. “It’s nice,” they said. “No one in history has ever stopped and chatted because of a perfect st. Augustine lawn.”

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