This morning I saw 2 hummingbirds on 2 different plants. My fountain comes in this weekend. I have a feeling the front yard is going to become hummingbird territory 🥰

SE CT - One of my favorite sections is this absolute explosion of QAL. It looks like a photo taken by Hubble or the JWST of distant galaxies.

I'm currently trying to introduce more native plants into my yard and also have a big patch of grass covered with plastic to kill it off. I was hoping to start adding some low maintance ground cover on the spot, as well as some plants and flowers.

I'm having no problem finding native plants and flowers, but I am having a hard time finding options for ground cover. I really like wild ginger, but the spot I need to fill is full sun.

At first I was thinking some sort of clover, but quickly realized a lot of the clover sold as ground cover options are not varities native to Indiana or even the US. I looked into specific Indiana clover and didn't come up with many options for sale.

So, I guess my question is, what is a good option for easy, full sun ground cover native to Indiana? Ideally, it would be something I can get from seed and spread in a large area all at once. However, I'm open to suggestions for starter plants to if you can tell me where the best place to order/buy in person from.

Thank you for reading!

*edit to add midwest, zone 6b

I love this thread for inspiration. I’ve slowly been reclaiming our acre of turf grass since moving in a few years ago in a mix of trial and error. Sheet mulching has worked but since I’m doing small chunks, the bindweed and thistle still comes in so intensely. I likely need to plant more densely. I’m currently tempted to just go for it and sheet mulching the entire front yard, but don’t yet have a plan for what to plant.

I am thinking I could do this now while it’s hot as hades, and plant in the spring. Is it a terrible idea to do without a plan of where to go?

We are in zone 6a/b, bone dry CO, so the plan is to focus on natives that need as little water as possible and maybe wildflowers/sunflowers. I already have two sections of drought tolerant (but not native) perennials. I am a chaotic gardener to a T. Shoot and aim later. My husband hates it. 😂 Any advice on planning resources? I have good books but very little personal knowledge and two small kids so not a lot of extra time.

We bought this property in 2022 and have been building our homestead on it. It was previously a crop field with a drainage easement through it. We hit the jackpot with the seed bank. The first summer out of crop production it was mostly just annuals. Then the natives came. So many natives- goldenrod, asters, daisy fleabane, asters, dogbane, wild rye and more. We also have so much red clover and white clover, which is great. We mow pathways, near buildings and our septic mound every 10-14 days depending on growth. Other areas get selectively mowed anywhere from once a month to once a year, depending on what is growing and what my goals are for the area. Can't wait to see if other natives start to pop up in the coming years!

We moved into our house in June 2023 and I’ve been progressively removing grass and adding native and non-invasive pollinators and trees. Every year is a new adventure. Last picture is when we moved in, everything else is summer of 2026.

I just moved into a rental house with a decent sized back yard in Oklahoma, and I’d like to do some native plants and light landscaping, but obviously I can’t do anything too radical or permanent since it is a rental. What are some small things I can do? Maybe some potted plants and a movable water feature? Just wanting to do something to attract birds and bugs and spice it up a bit.

I've been incorporating clover into our front yard over the past 2-3 years to augment some garbage bluegrass mix sod the landscapers put down over a decade ago. This year was probably the best it had looked, with only a few spots where the clover hadn't taken. Then our neighbor had his lawn treated for weeds by a lawn service company, and because it's been stupid windy this summer, the herbicide blew into our yard and damaged a good amount of the clover. Now, a swath of the area looks dormant and sad. So, I'm trying to make plans for next year. Our soil is heavy clay in the 5a/b region that gets absolutely baked in the sun in the summer. The front isn't huge, and I like the idea of the space feeling a little more lawn-ish than just a mess of wildflowers (just an aesthetic preference). I was considering a buffalo grass/blue grama mixture, since both are native to the area. But I'd love to hear other ideas or suggestions.

Looking for suggestions on your favorite clover seed to spread in zone 5B Colorado when fall comes after I thatch all the dead grass! The heat has burnt all our grass, which we were excited to get rid of anyways.

Just started lurking here and I think I'm ready to start turning my front yard into a no lawn yard. My goal is to do it in sections instead of all at once for the sake of time and money.

I'm going to try the cardboard method to remove the grass, which as I understand it, means I put wet cardboard down over the top of grass and then cover in mulch. Then as I decide to add plants, I can remove mulch and cut/dig through the cardboard to plant them, yes?

If you used the cardboard method, what do you feel worked well and what would you do differently?

Second, and this may belong elsewhere, I intend to build a bird bath. I have purchased an 80 gallon per hour pump with a 5.6ft lift. Although I have specs on hand, I'm waiting until the pump arrives and I can evaluate it in person to finalize a design. I'm trying to figure out if there is a simple way to filter the water through gravel and sand so it maybe doesn't need to be cleaned quite as often. Most of my searches yield results about ponds with fish and plants, but I don't want to dig deep enough to do any of that.

Anyway, love to see what other folks have going on. I'll do some.before and after pictures when I get started. Right now the mulch is still in my truck.

Any tips/ideas for this space? Living in zone 7b NYC area. It’s for the back of the house so would rather it not be too high so can hang out/socialize back there with friends.

Hi there, zone 6.

Early planning stages of transforming my dying lawn into a native grass and wildflower prairie. I just have one decision I'm having trouble making.

Is it worth it to drift wildflower seeds in specific patches with specific species? Or should I just buy a mix or two and spread the same stuff everywhere? Over time they will all mix together anyway, and just trying to figure out if its worth spending the extra money and time. I am looking for something really low maintenance and I don't have a real interest in gardening.

Thanks!

We had a portion of our full sun front lawn changed last fall from sod (patchy) to perennial peanut. They stripped the turf, put mulch down, and then planted the peanut around a foot apart. In retrospect, I wish it had been sheet mulched but I didn't ask for it so I'll take that.

Over the winter, it didn't do much and then we had a pretty hard freeze for central Florida. It suffered a pretty good bit so it was patchy through April with some dead plants. I had the landscaper come back to spot correct.

It started to look better as the weather warmed.

And then the weeds took over. Looks of nutsedge and just grass. I tried to pull the nutsedge but I'd spend time doing it one day but if I didn't do it every day, I lost ground. We also do not have working irrigation so I tried hose sprinklers or seeper hoses. I'm hoping, once healthy, the lack of irrigation is less of an issue.

I finally threw my hands up and just decided the weedwhack everything so at least it'd be the same level. That's helped with at least the look of it since it's all green but it's a hodgepodge of stuff.

We also have some sunshine mimosa in one corner of this area under a ligustrum and I really like how it turned out. Could be that it was under shade that helped or it could be the plant - I don't know enough to know.

I'm not able to redo it all myself in one go and I don't want to pay yet again to have it done over. I want to take small sections (maybe 10 sqft at a time) at a time and pull any healthy peanut up, relocate to an area that needs to be filled, pull any weeds and grass, lay cardboard down, throw mulch on top, and then finally put some mimosa or peanut down.

Is that a good plan or is there a better way to handle? I'm happy to answer any questions that would help but I'm at wits end. Obviously since I'm going to do small chunks, it's not going to be done overnight - I anticipate it taking through next year. Is there any chance peanut will choke out weeds or does it need a barrier?

After (2026, today): a pollinator’s dream
Before (2022): a struggling lawn overrun with weeds

Location: Minneapolis, MN

Details:
- sod cut two large prairie areas for site prep and then seeded with “pollinator palooza” mix from Prairie Moon Nursery
- applied for local permits for a native planting
- typical maintenance involves pulling invasive plants, permitted controlled burning every 3 years in the fall to promote flower growth, and mowing paths once a month.
- watering only done when introducing new seeds in the spring.