Homeowner shares silver lining after neighbor sets fire to their lawn: 'This feels like a sign...'

One Reddit user from St. Louis made lemonade out of lemons when a neighbor accidentally set fire to their lawn, and posted about the experience on the r/NoLawns subreddit. 

"I'm allergic to grass, and this feels like a sign to start replacing my yard," they said. "Does anyone have any tips/ideas?" 

The photos showed a generously-sized front lawn and a neighbor's sunken yard beside it. 

Both the upper and lower sections of the grass were heavily scorched, leaving as much black as green visible.

As the original poster suspected, their literal scorched earth presented the perfect opportunity to switch to a lawn alternative.

Normally, a homeowner would have to smother grass or dig up sod before planting something else, but in this case, the grass was already dead and unlikely to compete with new plantings.

Meanwhile, leveraging the situation to replace their lawn meant they wouldn't have to waste money on replanting grass only to have to replace it again.

Even if they did have grass to replace, however, switching would be worth the effort.

There is a wide range of options that use less water than traditional grass, including rewilding with native plants, planting clover, or reseeding with buffalo grass. 

These options also require less maintenance than a grass lawn and add more character to the property.

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The original poster acknowledged additional benefits, particularly the appeal to wildlife.

"I like the idea of a butterfly or bird garden," they said. "This happened yesterday, and I'd like to take advantage of it before the grass comes back."

Commenters were eager to help. 

"Some people pay good money for such services. Time to overseed a native meadow," one user said.

"You need a pollinator garden. Missouri has amazing resources for native plants. There are so many amazing Missouri based native plant vendors online. You can also try to find local vendors that can help or even native plant sales in your area," another replied.

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