From left, my former lawnless back yard on the cover of Evelyn Hadden’s wonderful book – sadly, now out of print – and my former lawnless front yard in Takoma Park, Md.
To catch you up, I’ve been into lawn-replacing and blogging about it since 2007 (“My Quest to be Lawn-Free and Mower-Free“) and I’m happy to see SO much more interest in lawn reduction these days. Contributing to that trend, we see stunning of images of individual plants – say, for pollinators – and some multi-acre meadows, which are really hard to get right, even the experts.
The challenge of the lawnless front yard
A Takoma Park, Md. garden featured in the Washington Post.
But when it comes to front yards in particular, local authorities (the “clipboard police”) and neighbors may not cotton to the wild look. The fight for a wild-looking front yard may be winnable, but at the expense of good neighbor relations.
So what if people found ways to convert their yards into spaces that they and their neighbors would love – for the beautiful plants, maybe the butterflies they attract, but even for the inviting paths, seating and fire pit. Or if low-maintenance is a must for the homeowner – and it almost always is – they might be inspired by a mostly-shrub garden, with paths for access. Front yards re-imagined!
See where I’m going? Let’s see images that turn people on and show them solutions that’ll work in their situation. Because let’s be real – environmental messaging will only move the needle so much.
Check out my Lawnless Front Yard Photo Collection!
So today, on Reduce Your Lawn Day (a campaign I support and have promoted here) I’m revealing Lawnless Front Yards, a Flickr account where people interested in lawn reduction or replacement can scroll through a curated collection of 107 photos (so far) of real front-yard gardens that have no or almost no lawn, most of which look damn good! It’s organized into albums for Design Ideas, Natives, Groundcovers, Meadows and More, Dry Gardens, with more coming.
As of today, the 96 “Design Idea” images are all mine, culled from decades photographing gardens. I also found 31 suitable images by other photographers and have collected them here. I found them all in Flickr’s “Naturalistic and Wild Garden Design” group.
The collection needs MORE photos, especially of native-plant front-yard gardens.
Somewhere near Toronto, Ontario.
So inviting garden photographers and writers to contribute examples from their archives, and they can choose the copyright type best for them. If all rights are reserved, viewers could contact the photographer to buy a high-res copy. (Oh, and if you’re interested in doing a book about lawnless front yards, here’s your photo source!)
I’m inviting designers to contribute photos of their own lawnfree front-yard designs (with photographer protections) to inspire readers everywhere and the ones in their area to maybe hire them.
Santa Monica, CA.
I’m inviting growers and sellers, especially of native plants, to send me examples of lawnless front yards they think might inspire, and I’ll try to hunt down permission to include them. To increase sales, vendors could display some gorgeous gardens with a list of native plants they’d recommend to create a similar design. I can also imagine a customer taking their favorite photo from the collection to a native-plant store or designer and asking for it to be replicated with natives.
And I’m seeking contributions from native-plant gardeners through native plant societies, Wild Ones chapters, Master Gardener groups and more. Their members and the general eco-interested public can then browse photos that help them answer the big question so many of them are asking – “Where do I start?”
Asheville, NC.
What types of photos? Ones that are clearly of front yards, lawnfree or with minimal lawn (covering no more than, say, a quarter of the space). If at least half of the plants there are native, indicate that, and a list of the dominant plants would be helpful. Photos at different seasons are also appreciated.
Buffalo, NY
Got ideas for creating and promoting this tool?
How to find more inspiring photos and then help them be seen and used? You tell me! I’d prefer not creating new social media accounts to spread the word, so could posting to existing groups do the trick?
Along Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va.
Two thoughts: talk to neighbors and homeowners associations to learn more about their objections. Is it about the height of perennial plantings that conjure images of unkempt or abandoned properties?
My inclination is to simplify designs by installing drifts of fewer specimens. But also, where no fence exists with neighboring properties, consider a selection of lower compatible perennials. And going a step further, help your neighbor design their lawns as a limited portion of a low maintence garden.
Good tips!
Thank you for this post. I’m not going to go into what is right or wrong with this post or neighbors, I can only say that thank God, it’s finally catching on in Sedgwick County, Kansas. I hope I was a bit of an influencer but the real workers Bee is the Kansas Native Plant Society, Kansas University.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lawnlessfrontyards/albums/72177720326920716/
Good point. The collection now includes 53 images of mostly native front yards, contributed by various native-plant groups on Facebook. In a couple of days they had 700+ views already!
I have a front yard that is 85% flowers, a mix of wild flowers, culitvars, old favorites. It’s far from maintenance free. Keeping the black eye susans, daylilies, fall asters under control is plenty of work. And I wont mention iris borers……I actually think a plain grass yard is far easier to maintain–just mow. But it’s also boring, unproductive and does nothing for pollinators, hum-mingbirds, etc.
Couldn’t agree more. Confirmed by my experience and reports from many who’ve gone from lawn to garden. I do hope one take-away from these images that that alternatives to lawns are gardens (not just mulch!) and can tell that they’ll require more work and more skill than mowing.
I love when lawn replacement turns people into gardeners, who knew better than to expect less maintenance.
Thank you for curating this collection! I’m looking forward to indulging and dreaming.
(I wish I could send a photo of our front yard with the native Carolina roses currently in bloom, but I’d have to clean the house’s dirty white trim and gutters first, and that’s just not a top priority.)
My current pet irritation is yards that are nothing more than a jumble of native “weeds” and dead branches “for the mason bees.” An eyesore but the owner is so proud to be doing something for the environment. Select plants, not too many species, in drifts, and excess weeded out. Do it for nature and our mutual environment.
Excellent points!
I enjoyed this post and the photos, Susan. Thank you for sharing. I like the idea of a lawnless front yard and am working towards having one. Over 2/3 of what you can see from the street of my place is planted in gardens. In the sunny area, I have a cottage garden. Along the sunny edges, I have phlox, roses, and verbena. There is a large shade garden under a mature maple tree. My challenge is the remainder: it used to actually be grass, but since trees I planted 10 – 12 years ago have grown, it is nearly 100% shade. I couldn’t get grass to grow there if I wanted it to, in spite of yearly aeration and overseeding. I have sown clover, after spending hours yanking Creeping Charlie, which thrives there. I have a lot of bare spots. Do you or any kind readers have suggestions? If I must make a humongous shade bed in this space, I can do it, but that will take years. Is there something I can sow there that will actually grow in shade and is not grass?
It sounds like you have the perfect conditions for a moss garden! There is a very helpful Facebook group I follow called “Go Green with Moss.” Here is an article that was shared there: https://www.midwestliving.com/dale-sievert-moss-garden-11727604?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-share-article&fbclid=IwQ0xDSwLFAttleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHsIok4bUE650jk7R41TGGWP_Q8ioijrWolitw1OpRqWEXXF_2WyhFRyxgGKY_aem_SrBlEEcgDPGB_M7B2x5_zQ
Wow, thank you so much, Kelly! Gardeners are such a generous bunch. I will take a look. I love getting ideas from others who share my passion.
So glad we’re finally replacing lifeless lawns with…lifeless mulch beds and a few polite shrubs. Huge progress.
Love the enthusiasm for ditching the lawn, but let’s not confuse replacing turf with a bed of mulch and a few golden barberries or hostas for actual ecological gardening. Calling this environmentalism feels a bit like swapping Cheetos for baked chips and claiming a wellness breakthrough.
The nod to native plants is appreciated—but asking for “at least 50% natives” while praising shrubscapes designed not to offend the HOA kind of misses the point. If your idea of a wild front yard still needs to look like it hosts wine tastings, maybe we’re not ready to “reimagine” much at all.
In the end, it’s not a vision of a living landscape—it’s a plea for polite ones. Wildness isn’t the enemy—it’s just been zoned out of existence. Viva la Suburban Regime! Keep nature tidy, polite, and HOA-compliant.
Wow, we must have read different articles.
These words do not communicate a deep love of nature as much as they betray a deep bitterness towards others. Condescending comments only put people’s backs against the wall and serve no purpose beyond self-congratulation.
Susan is attempting to provide positive examples of lawn-less front yards for people who recognize the desire and/or necessity of creating attractive urban landscapes in high-density areas. Even as we pursue our ecological goals, universal deference to fellow human beings who may not live/believe/love/worship as we do is not a moral failing but an act of goodwill. If moral righteousness does not allow you to recognize and tolerate that desire, you’ve got much in common with the religious zealots of the past. – MW
What do we need to do if want to contribute photos?
Ah, you remind me that I omitted that! Email me at gardenersusanATgmail, or message me on Instagram, where I launched the lawnfreefrontyards account just yesterday: https://www.instagram.com/lawnlessfrontyards/?hl=en
Wonderful report Susan! I think people who don’t understand what you mean are missing the point: we want to help people make a garden that suits their needs at the same time that the environment and all that is implied is also considered. We don’t normally acknowledge that the whole community shares every garden but it’s true. I recently spend time in a home that is psrt of a retirement community: the landscaping was a gravel background on which spreading low rose bushes are planted and maintained by landlord; every house has plants of their choice on their porch and around the house. There’s grass for children to play on in t the back of the houses. The whole thing was attractive.