Webinar: How to Replace Your Lawn

Tower Hill Botanic Garden horticulture director Mark Richardson offers ideas on how to Kill Your Lawn and replace it with something better for wildlife, the environment, and the eye.

[@DensterNY]

[44:50]: When he begins offering lawn alternative plants.

[@anaceciliahannickel5814]

It’s 12:30am on a Saturday/Sunday night, and I’m enjoying the heck out of this lecture. Could be the margaritas lol but regardless, thanks for the info!! Can’t wait to get rid of my lawn and implement some biodiverse alternatives instead.

[@missfizz2386]

Did you get rid of your lawn yet? I wanna do the same!

[@floopfloopian5387]

You should team up with Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't RUclips channel. They sell "kill your lawn" apparel.

[@Hayley-sl9lm]

It's a British tradition that we've carried over really. But for the UK where they have more precipitation it makes more sense, and the obsession with having it perfect and using a boat load of chemicals is the Americanization of it I think.

[@xeriscapeguy]

The picture on the first slide would be considered radical in many Texas landscapes. Eyebrows would be raised in regard to the size of the mulch bed.

[@marymcmahon659]

Once I can get rid of my HOA I'll be able to get rid of my lawn.

[@lyarcadia]

I heard if you don’t rake your leaves, the lawn underneath would die. So this year I just piled the leaves on the lawn I am to kill, and added a layer of dead cosmos on top of that and sowed some wildflower seeds there. After we get some snow it would be all wet and flat, hopefully that would be enough to kill the lawn…

[@jacksonjacksoff]

Hey just checking in on this. Did the leaf method work?

[@lyarcadia]

@@jacksonjacksoff It is too cold this spring in Minnesota so I don’t have many seedlings till now, but there is no grass either, so I will continue to wait.

[@ravingcyclist624]

It does work. I have lots of hardwood trees here in Atlanta and every fall it's difficult to get rid of the leaves. This year I used a ton of sizeable rocks to create a border around a large area of my yard. Several thousand sq ft. I spread the leaves over that area on top of the grass. The grass is gone. Some interesting plants have appeared: wild violets, broadleaf plantain, etc. I can choose whether to allow them or not.

[@lyarcadia]

@@ravingcyclist624 That is great to know, thanks! In my yard most of the grass is gone there but the clover is still there, I am OK with it though.

[@BryceGarling]

I am against getting rid of lawns. Lawns are often used as ways for people to get outside and have a place to relax or play. For me the narrative isn't getting rid of lawns but creating better lawns. The midwest has no mow native alternatives like buffalo grass and some researchers are developing biodiverse low growing options that need mowed once or twice a year and are butterfly friendly. Many lawns if anything should be reduced in size to only the useable size and use native and biodiverse options. Our lawn is crazy diverse and needs mowed rarely. It's always full of butterflies and bees. In the west no mow and low care options are used to cover bare soil which is good. Doing something better is far better than just getting rid of.

[@Hayley-sl9lm]

Yeah it seems like it's the way we do lawns that is the problem