A neighbor's comment made me rethink my lawn

Last spring, I was watering my Kentucky bluegrass lawn twice a day. A neighbor, who's a master gardener, gently said, "You're just growing a green desert for the bugs." She explained that non-native turf grass offers almost no food or shelter for local pollinators. I stopped watering so much and let parts of the lawn go brown over the summer. This year, I'm replacing a 200 square foot section with clover and native wildflowers instead. Has anyone else made a similar switch and noticed more bees or butterflies?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_sam11d ago

My buddy did that, now his yard hums all summer lol

young.kim11d ago

Wait his whole yard, @the_sam? That's a lot of buzzing to deal with.

faith_thomas11d ago

That hum is a good sign, it means the local ecosystem is waking back up. My own patch of clover and native grasses brings in way more than just bees. We get little wasps that hunt garden pests, and moths at night that bats like to eat. It's cool to see how one small change starts a whole chain reaction. Your two hundred square feet will probably do more for local wildlife than your whole old lawn ever did.