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The Deep Middle


Gardening & writing in the prairie echo

Why Wildlife Gardeners Need to Become Garden Designers ASAP

3/1/2023

17 Comments

 
The plain and simple fact is that any time you make yourself stand out in this culture, the culture will try to force you back into the box. Any landscape that is not lawn will be automatically seen as weedy, messy, and a general threat to the established cultural norms -- even if we all know here that a lawn monoculture is a real communal and environmental threat in urban areas.

So the very difficult task for wildlife and natural gardeners is to try and create a bridge between the common expectations of what a yard or garden should look like (and where it should be), and the fairly recent expectations (1950s) that a lawn makes you a team player in the parkification of suburbia (oh just you wait until my forthcoming Kill Your Lawn presentation -- the newsletter lands Saturday and will fill you in).

In books and lectures and classes and pocket guides, I've worked hard to try and lay out what that bridge looks like and how to cultivate it. Strangely, the below bullet points of that bridge have also led to a sort of fracas between wildlife gardeners and garden designers -- we are great at dividing ourselves as a species, but that's another topic entirely (maybe one embedded in A New Garden Ethic which is now in its fourth printing). But if we're not employing commonsense design and management principles into natural spaces -- using elements of design accepted by folks unfamiliar with natural design and thus afraid / dismissive / upset by it -- we're simply adding to the problem. A totally wild, unkempt, cacophony of lawn-to-meadow conversion is a lost opportunity, and indeed, shooting ourselves in the foot.

So what are some guiding principles for a more natural, front-yard lawn conversion that, in a few small ways (that admittedly often feel feeble and fruitless), extends an olive branch to the monoculture, resource-intensive, dominant suburban culture?


  • A limited plant palate based on square footage. The smaller the space, the smaller the species list should be so as not to visually overwhelm.
  • A cohesive, single-hued green base layer, groundcover, or matrix which ties the space together like a lawn might. This is color theory 101.
  • Always have 1-3 forb species in bloom at one time -- and no more. Again, the smaller the space the more this is important.
  • No herbaceous perennial or annual plants taller than 3-4 feet.
  • Taller plants in the middle or back of beds. Nothing tall within 4' of the sidewalk.
  • Employ cues to care that help show intention and access: paths, benches, sculpture, bird bath, arbors, metal edging, a sign, etc.
  • Don't use aggressive species. Research your plants to carefully match the site AND one another in the larger plant community.
  • Arrange seasonal flowering plants in repeating masses and drifts. Repetition is pleasing to the eye and helps show cohesion. Massing also creates a bigger beacon and reduces energy expenditure for pollinators.

It is disheartening to to see images of front yards, touted as liberation for wildlife and from the tyranny of our monocultures, without any eye toward design or accessibility that would be more welcoming to others. Again, ANY landscape that isn't clipped lawn will be an affront, but we have to do better as advocates for change. None of the above bullet points will reduce the ecosystem services we urge for as wildlife gardeners conscious of climate change and mass extinction. However, just letting plants ramble about, get tall, flop into sidewalks -- and appear totally disheveled and out of control while blocking sight lines -- is a detriment to what we hope to achieve as we work for equity among all species by encouraging neighbors to rethink lawn monocultures.

Soon enough water restrictions will force the issue, especially in the west and Plains where we're writing to you from. At some point -- even our local weed control officials admit -- we won't be able to have the traditional lawns we have now.

In the meantime, it behooves us to design AND MANAGE spaces with intention, knowing the plants and tending the space as a new kind of gardener -- not a gardener who applies herbicides or annual mulch applications or fertilizers that pollute waterways, but a gardener who learns plants and maintains a sensible balance of design and activism for a healthier future.
17 Comments
Pat Gall
3/1/2023 05:21:39 pm

Beautiful and perfect! A small village near me tried to make a small space next to a heritage building into a native planting that would've reflected the building's'time period. It lasted just a couple of years. Folks couldn't get used to the 'wild and unkempt' look. It was so sad...

Reply
John Ringness
3/1/2023 06:51:28 pm

I developed a Monarch Powerpoint that I give talks on here in Coastal South Carolina. I am SC Clemson Master Gardener. I enjoyed your site.

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Robert Newgarden
3/2/2023 05:54:55 am

I like these succinctly stated design "rules" for keeping a wildlife- friendly residential garden looking acceptable to most eyes- whether or not they understand all the reasons for the plant selections. These guidelines may be intuitive for many but there is great value in spelling them out. I work in a city park system and I would like to
copy or adapt this simple approach to design when doing training for our gardeners, because it seems equally applicable to many park and traffic island plantings.

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Gwen
3/2/2023 07:32:42 am

Any chance you can elaborate on how many species per square foot?

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Benjamin
3/2/2023 09:35:53 am

There's always a chance. I think it depends on your site conditions, managment goals, aesthetics etc. And a realization that plants fill in and reproduce over time. There's no hard and fast rule here. We plant plugs on 12" centers at install, but in a seeding project aim for anywhere from 50-200 seeds per foot (about 5% of seeds make it to mature plants on average).

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Barbra
3/2/2023 10:01:37 am

I saw an aerial photograph once of your neighborhood showing your site with all the plantings at the bottom and the rest of the subdivision clearly celebrating the Great American Lawn. In so many neighborhoods the residents are not gardeners…in any way. Have you made any inroads for more converts? Maybe give us some examples of your conversations.

Reply
Benjamin
3/2/2023 10:04:11 am

That's the number one question I'm asked all the time, and I reply with just look at the photos. Not sure how to make inroads, but I'm not out there mowing every week passing out like many of my neighbors, not wasting and paying for watering 1-2x a week, etc -- and I always hope that's a good example. I assume once we move all these plants will be removed and sodded over. And we have some unique native species that took a decade to establish.

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Alicia
3/3/2023 05:00:52 pm

Have you tried a free plant giveaway to neighbors/passersby? I heard of folks trying this when they have extra plant divisions. Maybe some plants will remain in the neighborhood if one garden is destroyed. I have no experience with that- just a dream at the moment!

Charles Reid link
3/3/2023 05:53:52 pm

Love this. I have done natural landscape designs for urban yards and I have had to learn these lessons the hard way sometimes.
Another big one is the issue of maintenance. Unless the homeowner is very interested in a maintenance plan or doing it themselves herbaceous plants should be limited, and trees and shrubs should be dominant.

Reply
Barbra
3/5/2023 06:47:02 am

The most successful front lawn native plant conversions I have seen in an HOA are definitely those with a good number of trees and shrubs. They usually have a year round presence and can be less unusual looking than an entire herbaceous mass planting

Reply
Grace Teshima
3/4/2023 05:33:58 am

I'm taking the plunge! On Monday when my lawn guys come, I'm going to ask them to mow a path around the borders and leave the rest of the backyard to go wild. For the sake of my neighbors, I'm leaving the front yard mowed. I'm excited about this adventure in plant diversity. Thanks for the article & inspiration.

Reply
Sanne Kure-Jensen
3/4/2023 08:25:19 am

We bought adjacent property in Rhode Island near the coast. The land in back was regularly mowed as liberty lawn for many years. The year we stopped mowing, over 17 species bloomed. After a construction project, disturbed some of the soils, I used local mulch hay to hold the soil and reseed. Gradually, I added pollinator friendly plugs and bulbs. I mowed or burned half our meadow (alternating sides to not kill overwintering insects) in early spring. I mowed the perimeter and a single dramatic path plus access to my beehives in one corner. Each summer our mini prairie grew taller reaching 8’ after 10-12 years. Goldenrod, milkweed and grasses dominated in mid-late summer.

Reply
Lisa Wolfe
3/4/2023 07:54:38 am

I love your emphasis on design elements. After recently hearing one of Robert Gegear's talks on pollinators, I am realizing once again I need to level up. I have tons of lepidoptera host plants and native plants for pollinators, as well as sedges and grasses. But I am going to now be thinking about plants that support the specialist bees.
For example, I have tons of mountain mint- and this draws lots of interesting wasps and loads of honeybees. But honeybees are not what I should be supporting as I am not a farmer. So I am thinking of putting in even more Prunella vulgaris for the specialist bees, maybe even at the cost of taking some of the tons of mountain mint out! (there's no more "lawn" except for paths, to be removed)

Reply
Alex Singer
3/4/2023 09:09:19 am

Your appeasement comments make sense if I'm trying to use my yard as a proselytizing tool, but I'm using it as a learning (and sometimes teaching) space, a non-spiritual meditation space, a space that (more than pollinator) wildlife will actually visit.
Any (right thinking?) person can look at my space and decide what parts appeal to them and do as they will, but meanwhile I'll continue to be surprised by new arrivals, saddened by fallen friends, and struck by the constant interplay of soil, sun, plants, fungi, and critters of all kinds.

Reply
Benjamin
3/4/2023 09:54:08 am

All that stuff still happens in a more designed space, too. ;)

Reply
Mark link
3/4/2023 11:07:20 am

If possible, design a landscape that your neighbors really admire and would like to emulate. Challenging, but possible!

Reply
Linda Nelson
3/4/2023 04:43:13 pm

I attended your recent Unlawning webinars. Great info, but this is an excellent wrap-up.
It is so true that we need to think like designers. I work for a designer who never thought about natives. She is slowly changing her perspective. That’s the way - one traditional designer/landscape company at a time.

Reply



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    Benjamin Vogt's thoughts on prairie gardening in Nebraska. With a healthy dose of landscape ethics, ecophilosophy, climate change,  and social justice.

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prairie inspired  design

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Monarch Gardens is a prairie-inspired design firm. We specialize in lawn to meadow conversions as well as urban shade gardens.

Employing 95% native plants, our designs are climate resilient, adaptable, and provide numerous ecological benefits while artistically reflecting wilder landscapes.
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