One gardener on Reddit made incredible progress with their garden in only three years and decided to share images of the transformation with the world.
"Some pictures of my … three-year-old garden (minus the trees)," they wrote in their post on r/gardening.
"We moved to this house in 2021 and added basically everything you see," said the original poster. "We started with only lawn, and rock and hosta beds. It was a ton of hard work. I wore through three pairs of gloves in a summer picking up all the river rocks by hand. But it's really starting to come together now, and I can't wait for 2024."
The post included 20 photos of a sprawling landscape, with some tidy garden boxes and other sections growing wild. Flowers include foxgloves, snapdragons, roses, dahlias, and more.
"How many acres?" asked one commenter.
"7 but 4 of it is wild," the original poster replied. "I garden on about 1 acre actively."
One adorable photo shows a tiny frog sitting on a flower — one of the benefits of a wild space, especially one with native plants that provide food and shelter for wildlife. Rewilding your yard is a huge benefit to the entire ecosystem.
"We always have a lot of critters," said the original poster in a comment. "Deer, squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies, coyotes, skunks, voles, moles, groundhogs, geese, ducks — you name it, we have it. I kind of enjoy the critters, except deer," they added.
Native plants and flowers aren't just great for larger animals; they're also essential for pollinators like butterflies and bees, which every garden needs to flourish. Plus, they're low-maintenance and don't need much water — something that the original poster claims is a big issue.
"As you can imagine, due to the size of the gardens, watering is a chore," they said. "So if you have any irrigation tips, I would love to hear it."
Despite those struggles, the flourishing garden was a source of envy for many commenters.
"This is what dreams are made of! So perfectly perfect!" said one user.
"This is beautiful and fills me with so much anticipation!" said another commenter. "I planted many of the same plants last spring; I cannot wait for them to fill in."
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