A Redditor is giving Dallas its flowers, and rightfully so.
In a post to r/NoLawns — a community dedicated to alternatives to monoculture lawns, emphasizing native plants and conservation — the OP shared a series of photos showcasing gorgeous wildflowers filling hillsides and lining pathways.
"I think this is the first time my city does a project like this, but I was so happy to see this change!" they wrote above the photos. "It has attracted a lot of bees and people as well."
"Wildflowers included evening primrose, Indian blanket, lemon beebalm, thistle, bluebonnet, wine up, etc.," they wrote in a follow-up comment.
Rewilding public areas like this, or your own lawn, instead of planting needy, monoculture grass, does wallets and the planet a world of good.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the amount of water used for landscaping in the United States is almost 9 billion gallons per day. Not only is this not sustainable as rising temperatures cause droughts around the world, but it also adds up quickly, costing households a pretty penny. Grass lawns also offer nothing to the wildlife in the area, and runoff filled with pesticides many use to keep grass green makes its way into our water, causing further harm.
Native plants and natural lawns, on the other hand, are adapted to their environment.
This means they require less water and maintenance, and they also work to help stop erosion, meaning less of everything that may be in the soil ends up elsewhere in the environment.
As opposed to grass, native landscaping — as the OP pointed out — also provides homes for wildlife and food for pollinators, like bees, which our food system relies on. Our World in Data reports that one-third of global crop production depends on pollinators.
Thus, the OP was right to laud this landscaping, and commenters on the post agreed.
"I actually drove by this area last week and [was] surprised to see it," said one. "It's so beautiful and so much better than boring lawn all over the place."
"Was in Texas for the eclipse and was absolutely floored how beautiful and bountiful the wildflowers were," added another. "Made my little patch look so anemic but inspired me to keep working at it."
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