In August, one homeowner showed the r/NoLawns subreddit a yard straight out of every member's dreams.
Lawns are traditional in the U.S., but it's a landscaping choice that takes a lot of water, fertilizer, and effort to maintain for something so unproductive and lacking in character.
That's why many people — especially the users on r/NoLawns — have started rejecting lawns in favor of vegetable gardens, xeriscaping, native plants, and, of course, flowers.
"We have a lawnmower but we don't use it," said this Redditor. Instead, they let their yard grow into a riot of differently-colored flowers, some of which reached up to the eaves of the house in the photos the original poster provided.
Depending on which option an anti-lawn homeowner chooses, they can save water, support local wildlife, or simply enjoy beautiful flowers in their yard. This Redditor chose a combination of all three.
"We started in the middle with some drought tolerant plants and succulents, and slowly spread out with wildflowers and (mostly) natives," the user explained in a comment. "There are little habitats all throughout the yard. I was just showing the north patch. It's really magical to be out there."
Local pollinators also appreciate the beautiful garden. The original poster showed off one picture of a hummingbird perched on one of their plants.
"It's aloe. They love it," the Redditor said when asked about the species.
According to the original poster, the yard had come a long way from its beginning as a boring lawn. In one comment, they shared their "starting photo" from just a couple of years earlier. The image included a flat, dead lawn, with one row of newly planted flowers and succulents running down the middle.
Other users shared their own garden experiences in the comments.
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"It was odd letting the lawnmower go once I'd finally given up on the grass," said one commenter. "There are more no lawns around here than before I took out all my grass but they are all different … [I'm] happy that some folks aren't defaulting to [a] boring and wasteful lawn."
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