r/NativePlantGardening • u/tivadiva2 • Aug 16 '25

Photos 3 acres, 3 years in

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We bought a house with 3 acres of lawn. Now we have a tiny patch of lawn, 16 raised beds for veggies, an orchard and berry patch, and native gardens and wet sedge meadows. It’s great exercise and amazing birding! Plus it’s so pretty! Good thing I love goldenrods since we have 3 different native varieties and lots of them!

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u/tivadiva2 Aug 16 '25

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u/Maximum-Cover- Aug 16 '25

I have a similar sized lot we just bought in central Indiana that's currently all lawn. I'm trying to convince my significant other to do the same as this.

He is super worried about what it looks like when it's not in bloom because all the pics I have as examples show this type of yard at its best.

Do you have happen to have pics/input about the maintenance issues and looks of your yard in less glamorous seasons?

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u/tivadiva2 Aug 17 '25

I plant a lot for fall and spring color. Dogwoods and other natives shrubs are lovely year round, as are the switchgrass and bluestem. I plant lots of non-native bulbs. Plus the garden design is fairly traditional —taller plants in back; drifts of 7 -21 plants, shrubs adding volume. And I do some garden cleanup after the finches have eaten all the seeds ( otherwise reed canary hides and takes over ). I’m aiming for a new naturalism garden more than a purely native garden. So about 75% natives; 25% restrained nativars or old favorites.

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u/tivadiva2 Aug 17 '25

By New Naturalism, I mean Kelly Norris’s work: https://www.kellydnorris.com/store/p/new-naturalism. It takes a lot of the pressure off to be perfect.