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Just finished year two of native plant gardening, finally seeing the payoff
Two years ago I ripped out most of my front yard grass and put in native plants from the Georgia Native Plant Society sale. For the first year it looked like a weedy mess and my neighbor asked if I was renting the house out. This spring the blooms went nuts - black-eyed Susans, coreopsis, and some milkweed I didn't even think survived. I counted 14 monarch caterpillars on three plants last week alone. Total cost was around $120 for everything including mulch. The best part is I only water once a week now compared to every other day with the old turf. Has anyone else tried replacing sections of their lawn with natives and seen a difference in their water bill?
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hugo_hayes21d ago
The $120 covered the plants on sale day and a few bags of shredded hardwood mulch from Home Depot. I grabbed plugs instead of gallon pots, which saved a ton but meant waiting a full season for them to fill in. The real hidden cost was the sweat equity pulling out bermuda grass roots by hand for about 10 weekends straight. What really surprised me was how the milkweed self seeded this year without me lifting a finger. Have you checked if your local native plant society does member sales? The deals are usually way better than nurseries.
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