We have been gradually converting our 1/10-acre yard into all natives over the past few years, and are at 90% native plants. Our goal is to create a healthy, beautiful habitat to support the native pollinators. Our yard includes sunny and shady, and dry and wet areas, allowing us to incorporate 90+ different species. Many of our garden beds are populated with native plants that we have grown ourselves via winter sowing, as this is an entirely DIY project.

Our garden is mostly along the road, it is actually city property. We had a native garden expert evaluate our garden about five years ago and we found out that we only had two native plants on our entire property. Since then, we have attempted to ensure that everything we have planted is native, and have removed some non-native plants. The area by the road is full sun, and we rarely water this area. The New England aster spreads a great deal, and we've had to remove a lot. But the amount of bee and butterfly activity has greatly increased. 

Our garden started a few years before Covid, with some plants donated by our neighbor. Slowly we have been adding native plant varieties to the fence line and allowing plants to self-seed and compete naturally. This year we are looking to thin out some of the late-blooming asters and expand the garden footprint to ensure more multi-seasonal interest. In our other beds and pots, we still allow space to mix in some non-native plants for color and interest.  

Our native garden surrounds our vegetable garden that we installed in order to replace our traditional lawn. We love incorporating new natives into our space and learning more about each type of plant. We have been DIYing our space for about 3 years now and feel now that our property has become more suitable habitat for local wildlife and attracts the many native pollinators that we want to encourage to visit! We love learning from all of our neighbors around us who share their native plant knowledge with us.

Our small property incorporates a variety of new and established native plants that support wildlife year-round. The most prominent feature is the sunny native sidewalk border that we planted to replace an invasive privet hedge—this garden bed features layers of shrubs, grasses, and perennials with a variety of textures, colors, and bloom times. The backyard features a new native shade garden with sedges, ferns, and other shade-tolerant natives that we started planting last fall.

We've worked with two different companies to design and install native plants on our small property. In addition to the professional design and installation, we've moved some plants around, and added plants that we've grown from seed or purchased. Plants include native shrubs, evergreens, grasses, ferns, and perennials. The side yard is full sun, and the front and backyard is a mix of partial shade and full sun. Our goal is to create a diverse landscape to support biodiversity, sequester carbon, and balance that with three humans, a dog, and a tortoise who all enjoy spending time outside.

Over the past 20 years, we have gradually replaced non-natives with native plants (sometimes native cultivars to help with smaller sizing for our .11 acre). Although we still have non-natives here and there, you will see border beds of native perennials, shrubs, and small trees. Our gardens are DIY, created with (un)intention, and more or less, meant to maintain themselves as we play our small part to help our pollinators, wildlife, and generally, the earth.

The huge oak tree determines the nature of this garden that was overrun with invasives and non-native species. All native plant beds have been created to change this to a mostly native site. This work in progress uses the non-natives to teach how the sister natives present. 

All DIY except for removal of unhealthy privet along the back that required a bobcat to pull it out. The same people helped us plant natives in that area. The garden is a mix of sun and shade. Some areas flood briefly in heavy rain but haven’t been damaged. Native plants were less available years ago but in the last 10 years I have focused on natives. Several areas that were lawn are newly planted with natives. 33 yrs ago, the city removed their diseased Norway maples and we requested pin oaks because we knew they were native. I planted another pin oak in the yard.

When I purchased my home, it came with a yard full of non-native trees, shrubs, and plants, and a manicured lawn. Prior to learning about the importance of native plants to the survival of our pollinators, I added non-native ornamentals. For the last five or so years, I have been actively removing non-natives and replacing lawn with native plants. Today you will find beds with dozens of species of natives, but also beds with mixes of natives and non-natives. I will likely never have a 100% native space (I LOVE my crocosmia for one), but I have taken the pledge to only plant native going forward.