Seeing hard work pay off is one of the more rewarding things about gardening. One homeowner shared their before-and-after transformation with Reddit, showcasing a gorgeous native plant garden.
If you are considering rewilding your lawn and planting local flora, check out r/NativePlantGardening for inspiration and advice. In a beautiful post, this gardener showed off their hard work with around a dozen photos showing their initial efforts and how far their garden has come.
"In May 2022 I rented a sod cutter and went nuts on our front garden!" they wrote. "I wanted a focus on natives and drought tolerant plants. … Learned a lot along the way and constantly moving and changing things as I go and as things grow! It brings me SO much joy.
" … One of my most favorite things is, the last two years, in early spring all of the natives that self-seed, I dig up and put in little grow pots, make little name and info sheets about each one, and put them on a table out front for free for folks in my neighborhood to take. I believe so much in the magic and importance of native plants and it is so joyous to share that with others by removing all the barriers that limit access to these wonderful plants!"
This is a beautiful sentiment accompanying an incredible garden. Planting native plants benefits local ecosystems by maintaining biodiversity and attracting beneficial wildlife, such as birds, bees, and other pollinators.
The Audubon Society wrote on the importance of native plants. "Because native plants are adapted to local environmental conditions, they require far less water, saving time, money, and perhaps the most valuable natural resource, water."
You could save more than $200 a year on your water bill after removing your traditional grass lawn.
Other gardeners were blown away by the gorgeous photos. "This is such an inspiration, it's so well done!" wrote one person.
Someone else said, "It's beautiful, the pollinators would thank you if they could."
Another gardener commented, "I literally gasped when I saw your pictures. What an amazing landscape. Well done you!"
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