A proud gardener took to Reddit to share pictures of their prairie garden in its second year.
The user shared several pictures showing off the beautiful prairie garden that had been planted with native plants that included a sea of yellow, pink, and white flowers.
The pictures also showed the original poster's dog enjoying the garden, and in comments, the original poster was asked for tips on preventing him from trampling the plants.
The OP replied, "I like him, but he's honestly my biggest gardening impediment," before going on to share tips on the ways they protect the gorgeous blooms, including creating defined pathways and enclosing the garden in a small black fence.
Planting native gardens is a great way to improve an outside space. Native plants, including wildflowers that are specific to your region, can provide a range of benefits. Native plants are much more likely to prosper and require less water, fertilizers, and pesticides than lawns, according to the USDA, which can pad your wallet and make your garden easier to manage.
Replacing a monoculture lawn with native plants is also great for the environment. They can help guard against flooding, increase biodiversity as the University of Maryland Extension explains, and also provide habitat for pollinators, which are important for human food production. Native plants can also guard against pollutants in runoff reaching our streams, rivers, and lakes.
Other eco-friendly alternatives to a monoculture lawn include buffalo grass and clover.
Clover is great because unlike a monoculture lawn it can stay green all year round (at least in milder climates), provides habitat for pollinators, and doesn't grow very tall, which reduces the time you need to spend mowing — if you need to mow it all. Clover is also inexpensive to care for and can thrive almost anywhere, which makes switching to a natural lawn a piece of cake.
Xeriscaping — which is a landscaping design used to reduce or eliminate the need for irrigation, according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality — is a great option for drier areas. It involves planting native plants and using soils, rocks, and mulch instead of traditional grassy lawns. This can reduce water usage by 50% to 75%, according to National Geographic.
Fellow Redditors shared their delight at the garden in the comments section, with one user simply stating, "AUH! AMAZING!!!"
Another commented, "It's looking great!"
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