For all their potential great qualities, traditional yards also have their frustrations. They can be a pain to maintain, and perhaps not even for a worthy end product if your plants and grass are too aesthetically bland or uniform. So, it's not surprising that some particularly daring gardeners try to switch it up, starting with out-there ideas and arriving at potentially innovative solutions.

This is frequently the case in the r/NoLawns subreddit (a group dedicated to alternatives to monoculture lawns — yards that consist of a single kind of grass and/or plant), which recently featured a post of a particularly eccentric lawn set-up.

In the post, the OP shares two photos. The first is after a year of gardening, and the second is after four years. In the meantime, the poster has kept their lawn free of grass but added a variety of shrubs and trees that manage to give the yard lots of character and color without requiring constant maintenance of a grass-based lawn.

If you're wondering how the OP and other no-lawn gardeners are able to achieve such a distinct yard aesthetic, it's more achievable than you may think. The starting point is simply to reset your entire lawn through the process of rewilding. 

As the word suggests, rewilding is the process by which a plot of land is returned to its natural state, untouched by any chemicals, gardening tools, or the like. Rewilding is commonly associated with larger landscapes, such as national parks or forests, but you can also rewild your yard. One way to do that is by installing plants native to your ecosystem.

Alternatively, a natural lawn can save you significant money and time on maintenance, while also lowering your water bills. In addition, they also create a healthier ecosystem for pollinators, which ultimately benefits everyone, as pollinators protect our food supply. Even a partial lawn replacement can provide these same benefits.

Although there weren't many responses to this post, those that commented seemed genuinely inspired by the OP's yard.

"Looks magical," one of the responses read. "I particularly like the way you've mixed deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs."

"So you're saying you got it dirt cheap?" another user joked, but then continued sincerely: "I love what you're doing…We're in the very very beginning of this process and I'm going to show these to my husband for inspiration."

What's the hardest thing about taking care of your yard? Mowing the lawn 🏡 Controlling weeds 🌿 Keeping pests at bay 🐿️ I don't have a yard 🤷 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

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