A groundskeeping enthusiast sparked discussion after sharing before-and-after images of an eco-landscaping job on the No Lawns subreddit. The photos demonstrate how a workers' cooperative replaced a grassy portion of roadside nature strip in Seattle with native plants and rocky ground cover.
The new strip includes a bioswale, which is a landscaped ditch designed to slow and absorb stormwater runoff. The feature has become a popular and clever solution among Pacific Northwest residents who need to manage the region's frequent rainfall and resulting runoff.
Rain gardens and bioswales can help improve stormwater absorption by almost a third while also reducing the pollution that can otherwise be carried away by stormwater runoff into vulnerable waterways, according to The Watershed Project.
Transforming a grass lawn into a native garden can meanwhile help reduce water bills and time spent maintaining yards. After deep but infrequent watering in the first few months, native plants typically become low-maintenance, as they're already well-suited to their environment.
Despite the benefits natural gardens can offer, community policies have sometimes kept residents from implementing them. However, 44 percent of those responding to a University of Florida study in 2022 indicated that their homeowners' association did allow pollinator gardens.
Growing native plants and wildflowers that can support pollinators is vital. Doing so helps support humanity's food supply, as 35 percent of the world's crops rely on pollinators, according to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Meanwhile, a review published in 2024 in CABI Reviews noted that "Approximately 16 percent of vertebrate pollinators, such as birds and bats, and 40 percent of invertebrate pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, are at risk of extinction."
The good news is that native gardening and partial lawn replacement seem to be gaining traction in the United States. A survey from the National Wildlife Federation and National Gardening Association found that 12 percent of U.S. adults are already replacing parts of their lawns with native landscaping.
"This is fantastic. Would love to see it in a rain shower," one commenter wrote in response to the original poster's photos, later adding that the remodeled yard "definitely looks like a PNW rain garden."
Another commenter said the "before" image appeared to show that the original lawn contained wild grass, suggesting that it may have remained a "valuable habitat" if it were mowed only once a year at the right time. But the original poster explained that the soil was "incredibly compacted" and "absorbing hardly any water," causing stormwater issues that required a landscaping update.
Homeowners can effectively rewild their yards by understanding local sunlight and rainfall conditions. Their native lawns will also thrive best when they know their plants' soil and water requirements.
For example, clover, ryegrass, and fescues are among the options that Oregon State University's Extension Service has recommended for area "eco-lawns."