Really well done. Your views on coaching folks to meet your neighbors (Or HOA’s) halfway is a very important point. We want to draw people into the native plant world. Not scare them away
Excellent info! I recently converted almost 1/2 my lawn to mostly native plants using plugs and shrubs this past fall. I will try and incorporate some sedges or cared for green mulch!
Great talk. Had to admit that I got a chuckle out f the map at the 10:04 mark when I realized that they changed America and didn't even tell me! Always wanted to visit Arizona, but I guess I missed my chance. 😂
Great info! Im going to do this with my front lawn. Transformed the back yard from monoculture to wild life garden (including a wild life pond) based on the channel of Joel Ashton (Brittain). He is also very inspirational. My yard is brimming with life! (Ordered your book!)
This was a wealth of information, thanks! I especially appreciated your advice on shady areas. I’ve got two mature Norway maples in my front yard that produce deep shade. I understand that Norway maples are non-native to the US and native species struggle to compete (heck, even lawn grass has a difficult time) with their aggressive root growth and deep shade. In the vein of “planting like with like,” would you still recommend the carex sedges and wild geranium mentioned here for planting under Norway maples? Or should I look intentionally for species that are level 3 on the sociability scale so that they might be more successful? Big thanks!
Thanks for all the info, I love your work! We have a lot of lawn on our property that I want to get rid of. I want to start with an area of about 600 sq ft., using three grasses for the base matrix. I was wondering if you mix the different grasses throughout the whole area or if you plant them in drifts and masses, too. Thanks!
Love your crusade for more natural spaces! I'm surprised that you advocate for chemical spray to kill grass because chemicals are, well, toxic to more than just the grass. Can you please explain?
I'm planning on starting my project over my septic drain field. I was going to use the spray method then put over a layer of topsoil because I was worried about the existing soil depth. Is that really a concern I should worry about? Or are flower and grass roots safe for a septic field? I'm in the SC Lowcountry. Typically sandy where I'm at. Certainly can't use the auger. Unfortunately.
Look locally for providers, but an example would be the septic field seed mixes that Prairie Moon and Prairie Nursery carry. I would not add more soil atop the pipes -- my general understanding is the pipes were placed there by pros who put them at the proper depth. Also, topsoil may make things too rich. Match plants to site -- never change the site for the plants (I think this line is in the lecture).
@@hebetuded You said "can of worms" and I confirmed. ;) A glyphosate-based product. There are lots of brand names and formulations. Do your research about what you want to use.
@Monarch Gardens LLC, are there not other options besides glyphosate? Something that doesn't mess with human hormones so profoundly, and ideally degrades after not too long?
What about fire danger ? I know someone who had their wildflowers mowed down when they were on vacation by a neighbor who was saying it was a fire danger .
Depends on where you live, right? More fire danger in the West than the northeast. Always plant and design according to your ecoregion. Someday, when we live on a prairie, we will have 20-30' fire breaks around the house. And we won't have forests -- which burn hotter and longer with more embers than grasslands.
An input from Ireland: congratulations on calling out the ridiculous situation with suburban lawns in the USA. 100% agree with what you have to say about that and good luck with your campaign; we have a less severe but similar situation in this country. But from here we must differ. It became obvious during the course of the video that you are not so much into garden rewilding, but landscaping - albeit with a nod to the former. The clincher was at 1:07: "What's in the weed seed bank? You don't know. Could be some native plants -- likely aggressive seeders -- definitely going to be aggressive exotics". This is altogether so wrong. We have, and still are, establishing natural meadows here. Unlike you we do NOT use plastic or glyphosate (even once) but rely on the Cut and Lift method to reduce soil fertility to suppress grass growth and give the natural seedbank a chance. It works. Restoring nature is not about planting what you personally see fit but allowing an ecosystem to revert to what it always did before we interfered. Sorry to sound confrontational but it had to be said.
There isn't a native seed bank in the highly altered urban and suburban environment. That's just a fact. So you really do have to put the plants back in. And you DO have to have a nod to design otherwise, trust me, neighbors will report the weed inspectors to you in a heartbeat. It's important to find a middle ground, at least here.
It's totally different situation in North America, Charles. If I "cut and lift" any part of a lawn here, the invasive cool-season rhizomatous European grasses would have no problem bouncing back, plus the variety of other opportunistic non-native plants that have come and taken over the urban landscapes in recent history. You need to think a lot harder to understand how badly endangered the native Prairie ecosystem here has become. You don't sound confrontational, just ignorant.
My neighbor has 2 acres of land, fully covered with turf grass. He has been mowing every day of growing season for the last 30 years!! His riding lawn mower is louder than a big old tractor!! He ruins our evenings with noise pollution and his evenings with pointless activity.
The ad that came up for me before the video was for a riding lawn mower 'you'll be proud to own'. Actually, _every_ ad throughout the video was telling me how to achieve a beautiful turf grass lawn. Sheesh. I have killed 3/4 of my front yard now! Any time a fox or opossum or raccoon shows up in the neighborhood, they all assume it's my fault because my yard 'attracted' the unwanted pest. Neighbors really are the worst antagonists when it comes to restoring native habitat on one's own property. I dont gripe at them for the drunken pot parties or showing off the sub for which the back seat of their car had to be removed, or the dog defecating in my yard. Neighbors suck. One day, though, I hope to have a photo of my yard in one of Prof. Doug Tallamy's presentations, like there is of your yard! It's beautiful! (insert wistful sigh here)
That ad is so unsuitable! Loved reading your comment! You have the sympathy of many of us like-minded yard restorers. It was worth every gruelling minute getting rid of 3/4 of my lawn! I have wood chip paths, gravel paths, small areas of lawn (one of which I leave unmowed with my electric push mower), mostly native perennials/shrubs mixed among a few ornamentals, but not the invasive kind such as Japanese barberry/honeysuckle. I love all the wildlife that roams through our yard -- including the raccoons/foxes/bunnies/coyotes/chipmunks/hawks, etc -- they're as welcome as the teeming insects, myriad bee varieties, wasps, toads that love the wood and rock piles I've created, and the tree trunks and large rocks that frame my beds. Rise above your uncouth ignorant "neighbors" who should know better. We have similar bums living around us, and it's a lonely life doing what I do. But I know have an 8' tall 3-year old native American elderberry bush with masses of flowers ready to produce berries for the birds, and masses of gorgeous native -- species, not cultivars -- perennials such as quinine, Rosa virginiana with its fragrant blooms, coneflowers, monardas, Cornus racemosa, anise hyssop, Lupinis perennis, annual red salvias for the hummers, and just got a Lonicera sempervirens started as well, etc etc. Love my ornamental hollyhocks and Gaura though!
@lanialost1320 will you please be my neighbor?! The people next door ( I love how cities cram houses so close together to rake in more of that property tax money) let their husky roam all over my yard. It's a big dog & it knocks the caterpillars off of their host plants, which angers me to no end. I shooed it out of my garden & its owner came out and started screaming and cussing at me. I overheard her an hour later telling her husband that she was going to f*ck me over. Sure enough, two days later, I received a notice from the city's _weed police_ . I'm going to be heartbroken if I'm forced to destroy my beautiful pollinator habitat. To the average person, it's a mess of tall, overgrown weeds. They won't care that each plant is either a butterfly host plant or a nectar source.
What plants are short and love to be peed on, pooped on, and walked on? You recommend using such plants on a hellstrip, but after much research, I have not been able to identify any.
Not much will respond favorably to defecation and frequent walking. Not even lawn (although for the latter you may be stuck with lawn -- best to try to reduce the overall amount of lawn / monoculture you have).
It dries in under an hour -- but depends on humidity levels. I also caution folks to be conservative and wait several hours, if not the rest of the day. Read the product label and follow it.
Makes me sick when I see places with giant lawns that aren’t even being used for any sort of recreation. How much time do people waste of their lives mowing.
Great talk, but really wish you hadn't advised planting tropical milkweed without advising people to check their native varieties. Planting non-native milkweed, specific to your region, is helping to spread disease among the monarchs.
Maybe I didn't hear you make the disclaimer, but the variety you showed may be native to your area, but is highly problematic here in CA where it is not native, but still commonly sold in nurseries as being benficial to monarchs, causing lots of confusion. Sorry, not trying to nitpick, there's just so much pseudo-info out there, as you know, that we have to be extra diligent when educating the public that the info may regionally specific. @@bvogt
Everyone should plant to local ecoregion. I harp on this in EVERY class and lecture I give. I can't assume to know your site being thousands of miles away, but I CAN help you learn to garden locally, think locally, act locally, advocate locally. @@jonrosell3700
ben have you yourself tested spraying vs other techniques for lawn removal? doesn’t really make any sense to use chemicals that smart countries are banning: you're using all the right language of environmental consciousness but then herbicide. what?! argument for it being better lacks any material positive attributes and ignores destructive real-world aspects. success rate of actually killing off a ton of grass is low; it’s meant to kill weeds not sod type. herbicide for killing grass… is that even a thing - if not round up - i’m not sure. i don’t think so for the sod kind; it’s too robust? so ya have to use glyphosate (round up). stuff like that is gonna harm microbiology i tend to think, also birds snd honey bees worms/ insects. you’d need tons of it too. it’s absolutely ruthless! and then you still have dead grass if it even works which could be ok if your soil isn’t ruined as in severely compacted from being lawn but that’s not a thing. it’s usually very compacted. removal of sod disrupting weed seeds is not a major detriment. that soil is under lawn is garbage from over watering, weird pH from fertilizer high in N, non biodiversity etc and i feel like disruption in that context is fine (unless several inches of topsoil is brought in which is usually extravagant and just as dead), tilling once after manual shovel removal seems like best choice bc if microbiology is marred from this vs usage of the stronger chemicals that kill stuff i think reoccurrence of bio wellbeing would resume faster if non chemical and dead grass wad was not in the picture. other organic more diverse material like compost could be instead introduced. logs, and rocks too that promote mini life! fertility in animals including humans is going down bc of chemicals - it gets in water even in north pole. not saying it’s the same chemicals - i’m not super savvy on say pesticide vs round up but if both are carcinogenic then i do know that that industry reflects non understating or caring about environment/ecology compared to big profit (if Bayer and Monsanto are involved - and they are - then it’s an easy no)! round up / glyphosate is banned in 33 counties…for being carcinogenic so cancer and tumors etc. and obvious eco death / damage. Monsanto has tried to influence scientific study downplaying it’s ill health effects. using ecosystem and biodiversity in same sentence as herbicide usage is complete nonsense?c
The origins of a lawn came from royalty while the peasants grew food. As far as a leaf blower idling for 10 minutes being worse than a pickup truck going 200 miles doesn't seem accurate to me. How do you know. Did you test it out yourself.
Really well done. Your views on coaching folks to meet your neighbors (Or HOA’s) halfway is a very important point. We want to draw people into the native plant world. Not scare them away
Appreciate your watching and commenting. We're getting there.
Thanks for posting here on TH-cam, was unable to register for the live presentation. This was very informative presentation.
Excellent info! I recently converted almost 1/2 my lawn to mostly native plants using plugs and shrubs this past fall. I will try and incorporate some sedges or cared for green mulch!
where'd you get the plugs?
Great talk. Had to admit that I got a chuckle out f the map at the 10:04 mark when I realized that they changed America and didn't even tell me! Always wanted to visit Arizona, but I guess I missed my chance. 😂
In NE there is a native nursery just south of Lincoln. Very good and helpful
In NE there's also a native plant garden design firm. Ahem. ;)
This was awesome. Thank you so much.
Great video. Thank you for this wealth of information & your time.
Great info! Im going to do this with my front lawn. Transformed the back yard from monoculture to wild life garden (including a wild life pond) based on the channel of Joel Ashton (Brittain). He is also very inspirational. My yard is brimming with life! (Ordered your book!)
Glad to be of help! Prairie up!
This was a wealth of information, thanks! I especially appreciated your advice on shady areas. I’ve got two mature Norway maples in my front yard that produce deep shade. I understand that Norway maples are non-native to the US and native species struggle to compete (heck, even lawn grass has a difficult time) with their aggressive root growth and deep shade. In the vein of “planting like with like,” would you still recommend the carex sedges and wild geranium mentioned here for planting under Norway maples? Or should I look intentionally for species that are level 3 on the sociability scale so that they might be more successful? Big thanks!
I'd look for regional woodland species that are adapted to those growing conditions you cite. So yes, sedge are a good starting point.
really good stuff!
Thanks for all the info, I love your work!
We have a lot of lawn on our property that I want to get rid of. I want to start with an area of about 600 sq ft., using three grasses for the base matrix. I was wondering if you mix the different grasses throughout the whole area or if you plant them in drifts and masses, too. Thanks!
Both. It depends on the site. And maybe one grass is a matrix and one is an ornamental mass / drift.
I just got this pushed to me - and just so great. Will share all around. Great info and ideas
Thanks, Bill!
Love your crusade for more natural spaces! I'm surprised that you advocate for chemical spray to kill grass because chemicals are, well, toxic to more than just the grass. Can you please explain?
Yes, I would like to know more about this. Alternatives?
I'm planning on starting my project over my septic drain field. I was going to use the spray method then put over a layer of topsoil because I was worried about the existing soil depth. Is that really a concern I should worry about? Or are flower and grass roots safe for a septic field? I'm in the SC Lowcountry. Typically sandy where I'm at. Certainly can't use the auger. Unfortunately.
Look locally for providers, but an example would be the septic field seed mixes that Prairie Moon and Prairie Nursery carry. I would not add more soil atop the pipes -- my general understanding is the pipes were placed there by pros who put them at the proper depth. Also, topsoil may make things too rich. Match plants to site -- never change the site for the plants (I think this line is in the lecture).
@@bvogt thank you so much. And bonus, saves me a few $$.
Might be opening a can of worms, but do you have any product recommendations for the 'spray kill' approach for removing lawn?
Glyphosate. Always worms.
@@bvogt anything with glyphosate in the ingredients? And do you mean to add worms?
@@hebetuded You said "can of worms" and I confirmed. ;) A glyphosate-based product. There are lots of brand names and formulations. Do your research about what you want to use.
@@bvogt 😂😂
@Monarch Gardens LLC, are there not other options besides glyphosate? Something that doesn't mess with human hormones so profoundly, and ideally degrades after not too long?
What about fire danger ? I know someone who had their wildflowers mowed down when they were on vacation by a neighbor who was saying it was a fire danger .
Depends on where you live, right? More fire danger in the West than the northeast. Always plant and design according to your ecoregion. Someday, when we live on a prairie, we will have 20-30' fire breaks around the house. And we won't have forests -- which burn hotter and longer with more embers than grasslands.
An input from Ireland:
congratulations on calling out the ridiculous situation with suburban lawns in the USA. 100% agree with what you have to say about that and good luck with your campaign; we have a less severe but similar situation in this country.
But from here we must differ.
It became obvious during the course of the video that you are not so much into garden rewilding, but landscaping - albeit with a nod to the former. The clincher was at 1:07: "What's in the weed seed bank? You don't know. Could be some native plants -- likely aggressive seeders -- definitely going to be aggressive exotics". This is altogether so wrong.
We have, and still are, establishing natural meadows here. Unlike you we do NOT use plastic or glyphosate (even once) but rely on the Cut and Lift method to reduce soil fertility to suppress grass growth and give the natural seedbank a chance. It works.
Restoring nature is not about planting what you personally see fit but allowing an ecosystem to revert to what it always did before we interfered.
Sorry to sound confrontational but it had to be said.
There isn't a native seed bank in the highly altered urban and suburban environment. That's just a fact. So you really do have to put the plants back in. And you DO have to have a nod to design otherwise, trust me, neighbors will report the weed inspectors to you in a heartbeat. It's important to find a middle ground, at least here.
It's totally different situation in North America, Charles. If I "cut and lift" any part of a lawn here, the invasive cool-season rhizomatous European grasses would have no problem bouncing back, plus the variety of other opportunistic non-native plants that have come and taken over the urban landscapes in recent history. You need to think a lot harder to understand how badly endangered the native Prairie ecosystem here has become. You don't sound confrontational, just ignorant.
My neighbor has 2 acres of land, fully covered with turf grass. He has been mowing every day of growing season for the last 30 years!! His riding lawn mower is louder than a big old tractor!! He ruins our evenings with noise pollution and his evenings with pointless activity.
The ad that came up for me before the video was for a riding lawn mower 'you'll be proud to own'. Actually, _every_ ad throughout the video was telling me how to achieve a beautiful turf grass lawn. Sheesh. I have killed 3/4 of my front yard now! Any time a fox or opossum or raccoon shows up in the neighborhood, they all assume it's my fault because my yard 'attracted' the unwanted pest. Neighbors really are the worst antagonists when it comes to restoring native habitat on one's own property. I dont gripe at them for the drunken pot parties or showing off the sub for which the back seat of their car had to be removed, or the dog defecating in my yard. Neighbors suck. One day, though, I hope to have a photo of my yard in one of Prof. Doug Tallamy's presentations, like there is of your yard! It's beautiful! (insert wistful sigh here)
That ad is so unsuitable! Loved reading your comment! You have the sympathy of many of us like-minded yard restorers. It was worth every gruelling minute getting rid of 3/4 of my lawn! I have wood chip paths, gravel paths, small areas of lawn (one of which I leave unmowed with my electric push mower), mostly native perennials/shrubs mixed among a few ornamentals, but not the invasive kind such as Japanese barberry/honeysuckle. I love all the wildlife that roams through our yard -- including the raccoons/foxes/bunnies/coyotes/chipmunks/hawks, etc -- they're as welcome as the teeming insects, myriad bee varieties, wasps, toads that love the wood and rock piles I've created, and the tree trunks and large rocks that frame my beds. Rise above your uncouth ignorant "neighbors" who should know better. We have similar bums living around us, and it's a lonely life doing what I do. But I know have an 8' tall 3-year old native American elderberry bush with masses of flowers ready to produce berries for the birds, and masses of gorgeous native -- species, not cultivars -- perennials such as quinine, Rosa virginiana with its fragrant blooms, coneflowers, monardas, Cornus racemosa, anise hyssop, Lupinis perennis, annual red salvias for the hummers, and just got a Lonicera sempervirens started as well, etc etc. Love my ornamental hollyhocks and Gaura though!
@lanialost1320 will you please be my neighbor?! The people next door ( I love how cities cram houses so close together to rake in more of that property tax money) let their husky roam all over my yard. It's a big dog & it knocks the caterpillars off of their host plants, which angers me to no end. I shooed it out of my garden & its owner came out and started screaming and cussing at me. I overheard her an hour later telling her husband that she was going to f*ck me over. Sure enough, two days later, I received a notice from the city's _weed police_ . I'm going to be heartbroken if I'm forced to destroy my beautiful pollinator habitat. To the average person, it's a mess of tall, overgrown weeds. They won't care that each plant is either a butterfly host plant or a nectar source.
What plants are short and love to be peed on, pooped on, and walked on? You recommend using such plants on a hellstrip, but after much research, I have not been able to identify any.
Not much will respond favorably to defecation and frequent walking. Not even lawn (although for the latter you may be stuck with lawn -- best to try to reduce the overall amount of lawn / monoculture you have).
@@bvogt Thanks! Now I know I wasn't missing some plants!!!
How do I do this without spending a damned fortune? I have a half acre lot... I'm not converting everything obvious as I have a garden, etc.
I'm concerned about the lawn kill idea since glyphosphate could harm my cat if he goes out on the sprayed lawn. Any thoughts from you pet lovers??
It dries in under an hour -- but depends on humidity levels. I also caution folks to be conservative and wait several hours, if not the rest of the day. Read the product label and follow it.
@@bvogt Thank you!
Makes me sick when I see places with giant lawns that aren’t even being used for any sort of recreation. How much time do people waste of their lives mowing.
My neighbor has 2 acres of land, fully covered with turf grass. He has been mowing every day in summer for the last 30 years. I just can't believe it.
@@ElahehDaisy Every day?! I swear some people need to go to therapy for this obsession because that is not normal or healthy.
Great talk, but really wish you hadn't advised planting tropical milkweed without advising people to check their native varieties. Planting non-native milkweed, specific to your region, is helping to spread disease among the monarchs.
What? I don't advise planting tropical milkweed here or anywhere, ever. Native milkweed always.
Maybe I didn't hear you make the disclaimer, but the variety you showed may be native to your area, but is highly problematic here in CA where it is not native, but still commonly sold in nurseries as being benficial to monarchs, causing lots of confusion. Sorry, not trying to nitpick, there's just so much pseudo-info out there, as you know, that we have to be extra diligent when educating the public that the info may regionally specific. @@bvogt
Everyone should plant to local ecoregion. I harp on this in EVERY class and lecture I give. I can't assume to know your site being thousands of miles away, but I CAN help you learn to garden locally, think locally, act locally, advocate locally. @@jonrosell3700
ben have you yourself tested spraying vs other techniques for lawn removal?
doesn’t really make any sense to use chemicals that smart countries are banning:
you're using all the right language of environmental consciousness but then herbicide. what?!
argument for it being better lacks any material positive attributes and ignores destructive real-world aspects.
success rate of actually killing off a ton of grass is low; it’s meant to kill weeds not sod type. herbicide for killing grass… is that even a thing - if not round up - i’m not sure. i don’t think so for the sod kind; it’s too robust? so ya have to use glyphosate (round up). stuff like that is gonna harm microbiology i tend to think, also birds snd honey bees worms/ insects. you’d need tons of it too. it’s absolutely ruthless!
and then you still have dead grass if it even works which could be ok if your soil isn’t ruined as in severely compacted from being lawn but that’s not a thing. it’s usually very compacted.
removal of sod disrupting weed seeds is not a major detriment. that soil is under lawn is garbage from over watering, weird pH from fertilizer high in N, non biodiversity etc and i feel like disruption in that context is fine (unless several inches of topsoil is brought in which is usually extravagant and just as dead),
tilling once after manual shovel removal seems like best choice bc if microbiology is marred from this vs usage of the stronger chemicals that kill stuff i think reoccurrence of bio wellbeing would resume faster if non chemical and dead grass wad was not in the picture. other organic more diverse material like compost could be instead introduced.
logs, and rocks too that promote mini life!
fertility in animals including humans is going down bc of chemicals - it gets in water even in north pole. not saying it’s the same chemicals - i’m not super savvy on say pesticide vs round up but if both are carcinogenic then i do know that that industry reflects non understating or caring about environment/ecology compared to big profit (if Bayer and Monsanto are involved - and they are - then it’s an easy no)!
round up / glyphosate is banned in 33 counties…for being carcinogenic so cancer and tumors etc. and obvious eco death / damage. Monsanto has tried to influence scientific study downplaying it’s ill health effects.
using ecosystem and biodiversity in same sentence as herbicide usage is complete nonsense?c
I'm shocked that you would use round up. It's horrible stuff
The origins of a lawn came from royalty while the peasants grew food. As far as a leaf blower idling for 10 minutes being worse than a pickup truck going 200 miles doesn't seem accurate to me. How do you know. Did you test it out yourself.