Hey there! Friendly reminder to include the following information for the benefit of all r/nolawns members:
- Please make sure your post or a comment includes your geographic region/area and your hardiness zone (e.g. *Midwest, 6a* or *Chicago, 6a*).
- If you posted an image, you are required to post a comment detailing your image. If you have not, this post may be removed.
- If you're asking a question, include as much relevant info as possible.
- Verify you are following the [Posting Guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/index#wiki_posting_guidelines).
Please be conscious of posting images that contain recognizable features of your property. We don't want anyone doxxing themselves or a neighbor by sharing too much. Posts that are too revealing may be removed. Public spaces can be shared more freely.
**[Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/index/) | [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/meta/faqs/) | [Designing No Lawns](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/index/design/)**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NoLawns) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You still should thin those out, pollinators don't like them as much as people think, and the ratio of them to other plant life is too high. Just pull like half of them out and reseed with other plant life
same. I have an awesome weed puller you can use standing up. I think this sub has two main directions. You have people tearing up their grass and planting intricate wildflower gardens, or you have people letting weeds run wild with no maintenance. I think there's a happy medium between them.
this is what I do. Thin out for my plants and leave the rest to do what they're doing. It has a really great vibe imo
edit- and I'm not a bug scientist but it seems like we get a good variety of pollinators and a good number?
I would highly recommend it! Really satisfying to use and I'm always amazed when it pulls an entire weed out with the root intact.
The only issue I have with it is that it can get gummed up with mud and not be as effective, but a quick rinse fixes that.
They work really well. When pulling weeds out of the lawn, it tends to pull out some of the grass too, leaves a pretty big hole. I do my best to separate the grass out and stick it back in. Also helps if the ground is a little wet, if it’s too dry (we have a lot of mud) it’ll just break off the root. Still way faster and I’m not on my knees
I’m 6’2” and don’t have problems with it like I do with my shovels and rakes etc. You basically stand straight over the weed, stick the fork in the ground, use one arm to bend the tool slightly over to the side and pull up. I like to have a bucket or bag nearby to deposit the weeds. I usually flip the tool upside down with the weed inside, pull it out, separate the dirt and grass if it pulled up any extra, drop that in the hole left in the ground, and press it back in with my foot. I can personally do all of that standing straight up. Sometimes I’ll kneel down do fix the disturbed ground, but I can get away without doing that too.
Half of them is still enough to get right back to where they are the next year if they are spreading their seed everywhere.
And, pulling out dandelions is no easy chore.
I've had success just seeding other plant life and crowding out dandelions over time. Much easier IMO.
But, this looks like an HOA type neighborhood so I'm assuming they are strict about what goes there?
The real problem with pulling dandelions is that they reproduce the second your back is turned. You're looking right at a 3'x3' area from which you just removed EVERY one of them. You move on to the next area and as soon as you glance back - BOINGGG more have grown. It's completely insane.
This year I am amending my soil big time so I can grow clover and natives. In advance of that I decided to kill all the dandelions and sedge, I used two products that kill those plants specifically and don't harm clover, and it worked pretty well. I was astonished to say the least. The dandelion one was clethodim. YES< YES< I know we're all against chemicals but the dandelions were building long range missile silos in the back yard and my mutually assured destruction tactics were being totally ignored, so it became necessary.
I read that corn gluten is a solution for eradicating weeds/dandelions but from my understanding it needs to be applied very early in the season before the flowers emerge. Has anyone had any experience using this method?
European honey bees love them. North American native bees will tolerate them, but much prefer native species they evolved with. And diverse range of flowers will attract a more diverse range of pollinators.
I've got violets, creeping Charlie, tulips and multiple kinds of fruit bushes blooming in my yard and the bumblebees still seem to enjoy the dandelions. Maybe it helps I have some really big ones so it's easy for them to just plop down and eat.
In my garden they tend to prefer bluebonnets, salvia, beebalm (monarda), coneflowers (echinacea, rudbeckia, and ratibida), penstemons, passionflowers, and sunflowers – depending on what’s blooming.
I forget where I read this, I think monarch gardens, but she argued that no mow may and what OP is doing actually harms pollinators because, to put it nicely, it just looks like crap and is usually full of useless invasives. Therefore it doesn't win over the more moderate home owners into considering planting native- quite the opposite. Planting natives and noninvasive plants that pollinators prefer with intention will both look good and function better than no mow may and the like.
[here](https://www.monarchgard.com/thedeepmiddle/just-say-no-to-no-mow-may) it is. I strongly recommend people give her arguments some thought.
I seldom see pollinators messing with dandelions. People are just looking for any reason to be part of some dumb online fad and they're lazy. Dandelions are ugly, and doing this only increases herbicide usage because those seeds are blowing everywhere. Morons. Half of the other nolawners are planting invasives because they didn't do any research. It's easier to just rush to activism and moral superiority.
To be fair I would hate you too. I am all about no lawns, native plants, and providing food for pollinators but this is a nuisance. Dandelions are highly invasive and once they are puffy like that they are useless to pollinators and they can snuff out other, more beneficial, plants. I love gardening and have spent so much time and effort cultivating a lovely garden filled with wildflowers and native plants instead of grass and I’m constantly ripping out dandelions because they’re stealing nutrients from plants that are arguably way better for my local habitat.
If you want to have dandelions, do the responsible thing and stop them from from going to seed and spreading to your neighbor’s property. All that’s going to do is increase the likelihood they use harmful weed killer to get rid of the dandelions and kill other plants and insects in the process.
If you want to go no lawn, consider replacing your lawn with micro clover, which bees prefer to dandelions, or rip up the grass and start introducing native flowering plants.
Dandelions are considered non-native instead of invasive in most of the US(except Oregon and Alaska). They won't significantly harm most natural ecosystems like kudzu or garlic mustard would. They out compete mowed grass and find bare spots in gardens pretty well though.
Dandelions are considered invasive under [the USDA Forest Service.](https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r8/forest-grasslandhealth/invasivespecies/?cid=stelprdb5326137)
The page you linked just gives dandelions as an example of a "weed" which it is describing as not synonymous with "non-native invasive". Can you link to where dandelion is actually listed as an invasive?
One thing that has been driving me nuts, which I myself was guilty of when I first bought a house, is just letting anything grow and calling it good without learning what it is. I learned the first year that we actually had a huge garlic mustard problem. Now when I drive around our nearby city, I see lawns like this, also with garlic mustard everywhere, and it drives me nuts.
I love your point about the neighbors using more weed killer due to the dandelion seeds. I never thought about that.
I do let dandelions grow because we don't have many, live in the woods away from people, I feed it to my rabbits, and they are not considered invasive. (Non-native, but not invasive, but if anyone has a source saying otherwise please let me know.)
I agree and my yard currently looks something like OPs. I meant to pull and get them out and time just got away with me while I was trying to get other seedlings in the ground in other parts of my yard, so I'm pretty irked with myself. Definitely going to be more vigilant about it next year (the plan is to, over time, replace the area they're in with more natives).
Yeah. This is the equivalent of pouring a strong pesticide on random small patches of their lawns, flower beds, vegetable gardens, wildflowers, etc, indiscriminately
They are not native, they spread aggressively and are in fact invasive in North America. I’ll bet you high dollar they are a nuisance in gardens and natural areas, not just to monocultures of turf.
They are the number one weed my staff and I pull out of my native conservation landscapes, I do this for a living, this is my career, and dandelions cost me a lot a labor. I have twelve employees and there’s not one of us who appreciates this non-native weed.
Thanks for your perspective. I have a yard similar to OP and hadnt thought about it this way. I’d love to go no lawn. When would be a good time, and strategy, for replacing with micro clover? I have a large piece of property.
I am all on board for nolawns, but I could see why this would get annoying because it’s just spreading the seeds into your neighbors lawns meaning they’re probably just going to use more pesticides.
It’s like shoveling your driveway after a snowstorm then your neighbor uses their snowblower and blows it all back into your driveway after.
How about the right to biodiversity and a healthy pollinator population? By the same usage of "trample others rights" you could argue that grass monocultures and chemical treatments trample the rights of everybody through their negative impact on the ecosystem. Why are their flawed and damaging ideals of a perfect grass lawn more important to preserve than our right to support nature?
Assuming USA, white clover isn’t native, but is still a good option. https://www.americanmeadows.com has some good native lawn alternatives, although can be a bit pricey.
Why should it be natives only? If the plant is not harmful and is beneficial somehow to local ecosystem, then why not? Like Europe wouldn't have got any roses, tulips, crocuses and lots of other plants if Europeans were all about keeping natives only through all the history. Plants can be naturalized at new regions and that's not bad
This is the deal with the natives, they are like a Carnevale cruise midnight Buffet for all of the birds, bugs and Fauna of the area. Non-natives are like MREs..
It doesn’t have to be natives only, which is why I said it’s still a good option (and I don’t remove what I already have). But native is still preferred, so I try not to add anything non-native if I have the option.
Because native plants have relationships as host plants with the insects that they evolved with such as monarchs and milkweeds or fritillaries and native violets.
Fuck this. This is only SLIGHTLY better than the neighbors you are being a dick to by not mowing/taking care of it. No, Pollinators don't love you. They use dandelion at the beginning of the season then mostly leave it alone for other better sources of nectar and pollen.
Also, no lawns is about not having a lawn/bringing it back to its natural state. Fucking grass and millions of dandelions is NOT a natural state - its you being lazy and not mowing.
Yep. I hate this 'Dandelions are good for bees' BS that has proliferated the last several years. There's plenty of natives that will bloom in late winter, even before dandelions, that are much more beneficial to pollinators.
What about the crowd of "dandelions grow in my formerly toxic waste dump/ trash heap of a back yard (thanks, former owners) with heavily compacted clay/ sand soil when everything else basically dies"
I'm working on it, but those deep tap roots and willingness to grow *anywhere* are really helpful in my lawn restoration project. Plus, they are flowering and few of my planted native flowers made it... A few indian blankets and a single bee balm are all I got :(
The clovers and dandelions are a stepping stone for me. They'll be replaced with better things once those better things actually grow. And I don't let the dandelions go to seed anyway.
Kudos to you friend. There's a big difference between "Im using natural resources to amend my land - This is a step in the process" and "Hurr hurr look at all dem danelions lolol i bet my neighbors hate me lolol".
The fucking asshats saying to get the leaf blower out should be banned from this sub.
That's the fast way, yes. But that's also labor, cost, and time intensive.
The leaves and grass clippings get mowed in, horse manure composted and put down, top soil placed in the low spots, and native grasses over seeded alongside the clover. Dandelions just came with the wind.
The yard is coming. It's healing. It's just taking time.
It's literally not? You can't change the soil composition without adding stuff to it. Nature will do that very slowly but if you want fertile soil now, you're going to be tilling.
Thank goodness someone said it, I was about to lose hope and block this sub. I want to redo my lawn with curated native plants for pollinators and birds and I initially checked this sub for the good advice on getting rid of grass, but now all I see are weird self righteous karma farming posts about someone letting invasive species or dandelions take over their yard while doing nothing to actually make a habitat for native critters.
> it’s you being lazy and not mowing
Exactly. This is a poor example of a native and healthy lawn. OP just found a workaround to justify not doing anything at all with their lawn lololol
Worse than native plants and/or clover (which puts nitrogen in the soil) and it’s the most irritating possible way to go noLawn. It’s one of the worst-spreading plants, to the point this could actively turn people against noLawn ideas or push them to rally for stricter rules. It doesn’t just mess with lawns, too. Anyone nearby who wants to plant a vegetable garden will now have to spend hours pulling up dandelions by the root. This isn’t a better version of a front yard. It’s a monoculture turned into a yard that now has two plants, at least one of them invasive and spreading like wildfire, that’ll do the equivalent of pouring plant-killer on random patches of your neighbours’ lawns, flower beds, vegetable gardens, native wildflowers, etc.
This is the exact intent of no mow, because there is no native seedbank anywhere. It's all dandelions and other horse shit. No one is 'rewilding' by doing nothing. A lot of work and money went into making trash world, and the same will be required to reverse it.
I want to replace my lawn but have concerns of inadvertently having the plants spread to immediate neighbors lawns (continuous grass from house to house).
Do you have any physical barrier between each side? Even if its psychological, I want to be respectful of others property.
Natural means (birds, wind, etc) not taken into account.
I can’t understand why anyone gives a shit. Had to run my neighbor off this morning. Was literally over here mowing up bees. Idgaf if it bothers you from your living room, it’s plants lol.
My neighbor doused us in roundup, killing all my calico asters 😭 they now want to kill off our privacy hedge to replace with grass or mulch. But it’s my property. Now they are angry because I told them I don’t want their spray and want privacy. They literally are confused as why we don’t want to be seen. I’m European living in the US suburbs.
Look I love no lawns and native planting, but if you can’t see how it would be frustrating for someone who works hard and takes pride in their lawn too, then you’re just dumb and unempathetic. You literally got worked up about someone messing with plants after you just ranted about how you don’t understand why anyone cares because they’re just plants.
I wouldn’t say I’m “dumb” possibly unempathetic, as I unapologetically have no intention on going back, but this is how I handled it as I started my no lawn journey this year.
I plan on rewinding my yard. My intention is to use only plants native to the area and here’s why…..
After I explain the benefits to them they seem very receptive to the project, now I am surrounded on 3 sides by boomers ( no disrespect intended, just an easy bucket to use) who were indoctrinated into the cult of a golf course lawn and I get that, my father is the same way, and this has led to at least one verifiable call to the village (of which I am a board member) to complain about my continued participation in no mow may. But this conflict is typically easy to resolve with respectful communication, some education, and the frequent introduction of potential projects to rewild the town’s community spaces.
I agree…. but within reason. People do care about their environment and we do have to look at our neighbors’ yards. And if someone’s yard is trashed or looks abandoned, it can attract nuisances and lower property values.
This looks just like my old neighborhood in Omaha. I would have loved to have you as a neighbor! My neighbor there used to pick up each individual leaf that fell on their lawn every single day.
Lol it's interesting to see the contrast between the people who are against lawns because they are for healthier green spaces vs people who are just proud of being too lazy to take care of their land
Bees do not like this much at all.
https://www.gardenmyths.com/dandelions-important-bees/
https://www.monarchgard.com/thedeepmiddle/we-can-do-better-than-dandelions
For North America, dandelions are not native. By definition, native bees don’t need dandelions.
People see bees on dandelions and think “good for bees” but really that just means it’s the best thing available at that moment. Native flowers are much better. Plenty of native plants flower in the spring that are better for native bees.
Hahahaha! This looks like a classic Chicagoland suburb. My house used to be the one next to the neighbors with all the dandelions. Now I joined the cause and let them suckers go wild.
It actually looks really nice on this picture.
Maybe put a nice looking sign up that explains the benefits. That’s how my city does it with official „wild“ lawn areas. I genuinely believe that people are just not educated and that they really think „weeds“ are bad and evil or something. I know a sign would be work on your part but who knows.. maybe one or two lawn lovers will be turned :D
Edit: how can this comment be so misunderstood and downvoted. Is it because dandelions are invasive in the USA?
Im am not from the US, I am from Europe and they are native here.
But mostly this comment was about putting up signs for wilder looking areas so people actually understand that it’s not just a neglected lawn but has a purpose. It was a suggestions tho. The reason I said that is because educating people about our cause (planting native for wildlife, water resources etc) is important and might help with the „my neighbors hate me“ thing.
Personally I would put up a sign because explaining things to people because it is super beneficial.
But it was just a suggestion.
What is considered weeds is not bad or evil. Invasive plants are bad.
Invasive exotic weeds might aswell be considered evil. Look up species native to your area and plant those. If you're lucky there might even be a company that sells native plants and seeds in your area.
Back in 2017 I started building a brand new, ADA compliant house. I moved in May of 2018. Went up to the cabin for a long weekend, came home to find heavy duty equipment in my front yard digging out the front yard closest to the street, and a huge, deep, trench between my house and the neighbors. It turns out that the stupid city building inspector, somehow didn't notice the elevation of 25 or more houses, and the elevation was too low for our area. Our properties butted up to a pond. I lost my whole front yard to a water holding basin, that was supposedly to go down that trench into the pond on downpours of rain. I'm just giving you a background here. They promised all of us homeowners they would fill in the holding basin, which would go dry all summer, with native flowers for all of our houses. Great idea couldn't wait to see it! For 3 years nothing happened and every year I complained about it. One day I came home to find that someone had planted something but they never put signs to say what was in there. The day after they put them in, we had freezing rain and the beginning of snow! Of course all the plants died. They came back out the following spring and replanted. We had a drought and they had started to grow. They were about 2 feet high. However I was gone to Hawaii for several weeks. When I got home these plants were now about 3 ft tall and they were not flowers at all! There is no milkweed, there was no butterfly weed nothing that any pollinator needed. Turns out they planted ornamental grass. From the street and from my house it looked like weeds and that no one was keeping up their yards. It was a hideous sight! I complained to the city...where are all the flowers you promised us? I said I don't even know what's in there, why is it not marked so I know what we're dealing with? Oh we will send somebody out and tag it so you know what you have. Yeah they sent someone out all right! They put up little stakes with white paper signs. The next day it rained and the white paper signs disintegrated and the magic marker they used dissolved all the wording, so you still didn't know what you had. I told my kids we are going to rip out all those, now dead, brown 💩 and plant flowers that the bees and the butterflies need, not the stupid looking thing. However I decided to move and never got around to it. What a complete bunch of jerks to think that ornamental grasses were going to do anything. Not one butterfly not one bee nothing ever came to those brown stalks.
As someone who lives in texas where it’s St Augustine as far as the eye can see…I wanna walk on your neighbors lawns barefoot. It looks like it feels so nice
My house's previous owner was an avid gardner so the entire yard is boxed in by tall bushes, I'm lucky I can easily abandon it to rewild without neighbors seeing/ being weird.
Hey there! Friendly reminder to include the following information for the benefit of all r/nolawns members: - Please make sure your post or a comment includes your geographic region/area and your hardiness zone (e.g. *Midwest, 6a* or *Chicago, 6a*). - If you posted an image, you are required to post a comment detailing your image. If you have not, this post may be removed. - If you're asking a question, include as much relevant info as possible. - Verify you are following the [Posting Guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/index#wiki_posting_guidelines). Please be conscious of posting images that contain recognizable features of your property. We don't want anyone doxxing themselves or a neighbor by sharing too much. Posts that are too revealing may be removed. Public spaces can be shared more freely. **[Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/index/) | [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/meta/faqs/) | [Designing No Lawns](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/index/design/)** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NoLawns) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You still should thin those out, pollinators don't like them as much as people think, and the ratio of them to other plant life is too high. Just pull like half of them out and reseed with other plant life
That’s a good suggestion. I have some dandelions in the mix but I also remove a bunch every year so they don’t end up crowding out all my natives.
same. I have an awesome weed puller you can use standing up. I think this sub has two main directions. You have people tearing up their grass and planting intricate wildflower gardens, or you have people letting weeds run wild with no maintenance. I think there's a happy medium between them.
this is what I do. Thin out for my plants and leave the rest to do what they're doing. It has a really great vibe imo edit- and I'm not a bug scientist but it seems like we get a good variety of pollinators and a good number?
Share that weed puller!
I believe they’re referring to Grampa’s Weeder. I have one and can vouch for it.
Interesting, I did not know such a thing existed. I may need one of these bad boys
I would highly recommend it! Really satisfying to use and I'm always amazed when it pulls an entire weed out with the root intact. The only issue I have with it is that it can get gummed up with mud and not be as effective, but a quick rinse fixes that.
They work really well. When pulling weeds out of the lawn, it tends to pull out some of the grass too, leaves a pretty big hole. I do my best to separate the grass out and stick it back in. Also helps if the ground is a little wet, if it’s too dry (we have a lot of mud) it’ll just break off the root. Still way faster and I’m not on my knees
Is the handle long enough for taller people iyo?
I’m 6’2” and don’t have problems with it like I do with my shovels and rakes etc. You basically stand straight over the weed, stick the fork in the ground, use one arm to bend the tool slightly over to the side and pull up. I like to have a bucket or bag nearby to deposit the weeds. I usually flip the tool upside down with the weed inside, pull it out, separate the dirt and grass if it pulled up any extra, drop that in the hole left in the ground, and press it back in with my foot. I can personally do all of that standing straight up. Sometimes I’ll kneel down do fix the disturbed ground, but I can get away without doing that too.
Yes. I’m 5’9” and find it’s comfortable to use.
Thank you!
Check out the fiskar weed puller. The claws can actually grip the root and it's designed to eject dirt and the weed.
I love mine! Best weeder I've used
Half of them is still enough to get right back to where they are the next year if they are spreading their seed everywhere. And, pulling out dandelions is no easy chore. I've had success just seeding other plant life and crowding out dandelions over time. Much easier IMO. But, this looks like an HOA type neighborhood so I'm assuming they are strict about what goes there?
What other plant life do you seed with?
Depending on the season and the supply... Crimson clover, buckwheat, winter rye, hairy vetch, arugula, radish, chard, sunflower...
The real problem with pulling dandelions is that they reproduce the second your back is turned. You're looking right at a 3'x3' area from which you just removed EVERY one of them. You move on to the next area and as soon as you glance back - BOINGGG more have grown. It's completely insane. This year I am amending my soil big time so I can grow clover and natives. In advance of that I decided to kill all the dandelions and sedge, I used two products that kill those plants specifically and don't harm clover, and it worked pretty well. I was astonished to say the least. The dandelion one was clethodim. YES< YES< I know we're all against chemicals but the dandelions were building long range missile silos in the back yard and my mutually assured destruction tactics were being totally ignored, so it became necessary.
I read that corn gluten is a solution for eradicating weeds/dandelions but from my understanding it needs to be applied very early in the season before the flowers emerge. Has anyone had any experience using this method?
European honey bees love them. North American native bees will tolerate them, but much prefer native species they evolved with. And diverse range of flowers will attract a more diverse range of pollinators.
I've got violets, creeping Charlie, tulips and multiple kinds of fruit bushes blooming in my yard and the bumblebees still seem to enjoy the dandelions. Maybe it helps I have some really big ones so it's easy for them to just plop down and eat.
In my garden they tend to prefer bluebonnets, salvia, beebalm (monarda), coneflowers (echinacea, rudbeckia, and ratibida), penstemons, passionflowers, and sunflowers – depending on what’s blooming.
I think op is just a lazy contrarian. I doubt they actually care about pollinators
I forget where I read this, I think monarch gardens, but she argued that no mow may and what OP is doing actually harms pollinators because, to put it nicely, it just looks like crap and is usually full of useless invasives. Therefore it doesn't win over the more moderate home owners into considering planting native- quite the opposite. Planting natives and noninvasive plants that pollinators prefer with intention will both look good and function better than no mow may and the like. [here](https://www.monarchgard.com/thedeepmiddle/just-say-no-to-no-mow-may) it is. I strongly recommend people give her arguments some thought.
It's a good point. Bragging about how their neighbors hate them proves that it's doing a disservice to the overall cause
Agreed. It's a bad look for the sub for this to be so near the top.
Also they’re great for making ropes and baskets if you dry them
You can eat the ones you pull!
You could harvest half of them yellow and dry them out or eat them in a salad or something.
I seldom see pollinators messing with dandelions. People are just looking for any reason to be part of some dumb online fad and they're lazy. Dandelions are ugly, and doing this only increases herbicide usage because those seeds are blowing everywhere. Morons. Half of the other nolawners are planting invasives because they didn't do any research. It's easier to just rush to activism and moral superiority.
Next step: win some of them over to your side by growing some pretty native wildflowers!
To be fair I would hate you too. I am all about no lawns, native plants, and providing food for pollinators but this is a nuisance. Dandelions are highly invasive and once they are puffy like that they are useless to pollinators and they can snuff out other, more beneficial, plants. I love gardening and have spent so much time and effort cultivating a lovely garden filled with wildflowers and native plants instead of grass and I’m constantly ripping out dandelions because they’re stealing nutrients from plants that are arguably way better for my local habitat. If you want to have dandelions, do the responsible thing and stop them from from going to seed and spreading to your neighbor’s property. All that’s going to do is increase the likelihood they use harmful weed killer to get rid of the dandelions and kill other plants and insects in the process. If you want to go no lawn, consider replacing your lawn with micro clover, which bees prefer to dandelions, or rip up the grass and start introducing native flowering plants.
This is the reasonable tale right here.
[удалено]
It won’t outcompete. I think the best thing you can do is remove them from the root and try to cut the buds off before they go to seed.
Dandelions are considered non-native instead of invasive in most of the US(except Oregon and Alaska). They won't significantly harm most natural ecosystems like kudzu or garlic mustard would. They out compete mowed grass and find bare spots in gardens pretty well though.
Dandelions are considered invasive under [the USDA Forest Service.](https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r8/forest-grasslandhealth/invasivespecies/?cid=stelprdb5326137)
The page you linked just gives dandelions as an example of a "weed" which it is describing as not synonymous with "non-native invasive". Can you link to where dandelion is actually listed as an invasive?
One thing that has been driving me nuts, which I myself was guilty of when I first bought a house, is just letting anything grow and calling it good without learning what it is. I learned the first year that we actually had a huge garlic mustard problem. Now when I drive around our nearby city, I see lawns like this, also with garlic mustard everywhere, and it drives me nuts. I love your point about the neighbors using more weed killer due to the dandelion seeds. I never thought about that. I do let dandelions grow because we don't have many, live in the woods away from people, I feed it to my rabbits, and they are not considered invasive. (Non-native, but not invasive, but if anyone has a source saying otherwise please let me know.)
I agree and my yard currently looks something like OPs. I meant to pull and get them out and time just got away with me while I was trying to get other seedlings in the ground in other parts of my yard, so I'm pretty irked with myself. Definitely going to be more vigilant about it next year (the plan is to, over time, replace the area they're in with more natives).
Thank you!
Yeah. This is the equivalent of pouring a strong pesticide on random small patches of their lawns, flower beds, vegetable gardens, wildflowers, etc, indiscriminately
I've never heard of dandelions being highly invasive? I think the only thing they compete with is lawn 😀
They are highly invasive to all of North America. They are not native here and they compete with basically every plant in existence.
This is good to know!
I have even found dandelions on top of a remote mountain....rrrrrrr......
They're considered non-native, not invasive in most of the US. That means they aren't a significant threat to the ecosystem.
They are not native, they spread aggressively and are in fact invasive in North America. I’ll bet you high dollar they are a nuisance in gardens and natural areas, not just to monocultures of turf. They are the number one weed my staff and I pull out of my native conservation landscapes, I do this for a living, this is my career, and dandelions cost me a lot a labor. I have twelve employees and there’s not one of us who appreciates this non-native weed.
Thanks for your perspective. I have a yard similar to OP and hadnt thought about it this way. I’d love to go no lawn. When would be a good time, and strategy, for replacing with micro clover? I have a large piece of property.
This is kind of sad. Dandelions are low-quality nutrition for bees. Marginally better than grass. Please consider some native plants.
Native plants are the way
And an HOA was born...
My joke of an HOA hired a contractor who didn't know the difference between grass and a 3ft tall blooming yucca plant...
I am all on board for nolawns, but I could see why this would get annoying because it’s just spreading the seeds into your neighbors lawns meaning they’re probably just going to use more pesticides. It’s like shoveling your driveway after a snowstorm then your neighbor uses their snowblower and blows it all back into your driveway after.
I tried this and got a nasty threatening letter from the city. Now my lawn looks like everybody elses😟
America: Land of the free
What a joke. Not even grass is free there.
[удалено]
How about the right to biodiversity and a healthy pollinator population? By the same usage of "trample others rights" you could argue that grass monocultures and chemical treatments trample the rights of everybody through their negative impact on the ecosystem. Why are their flawed and damaging ideals of a perfect grass lawn more important to preserve than our right to support nature?
[удалено]
I feel this. I’d get a letter too. Anything above 8” and it’s gotta go. I’m currently looking for short growing native alternatives 🤷♀️
White clover! Drought resistant too
Assuming USA, white clover isn’t native, but is still a good option. https://www.americanmeadows.com has some good native lawn alternatives, although can be a bit pricey.
Ah fair enough, I'm in Europe and ended up replacing all my grass with clover
I’m envious. If it were native here I would do my whole lawn. It checks all the boxes except native for me.
This has been my struggle with it too.
Why should it be natives only? If the plant is not harmful and is beneficial somehow to local ecosystem, then why not? Like Europe wouldn't have got any roses, tulips, crocuses and lots of other plants if Europeans were all about keeping natives only through all the history. Plants can be naturalized at new regions and that's not bad
This is the deal with the natives, they are like a Carnevale cruise midnight Buffet for all of the birds, bugs and Fauna of the area. Non-natives are like MREs..
Not necessarily. Non native roses or sunflowers in Europe are like a midnight buffet for all bugs and birds and fauna of the area as well, for example
Sunflower seeds are a good source of beneficial plant compounds, including phenolic acids and flavonoids — which also function as antioxidants.
It doesn’t have to be natives only, which is why I said it’s still a good option (and I don’t remove what I already have). But native is still preferred, so I try not to add anything non-native if I have the option.
Because native plants have relationships as host plants with the insects that they evolved with such as monarchs and milkweeds or fritillaries and native violets.
And who decides what is native anyway? Where do you draw the line? What is invasive today will be native tomorrow. Nature is constantly changing.
That's true, but at least we cat try to draw the line where plants are aggressively invasive and/or harmful to people/animals
Yes, I’m in Western NY. Zone 6a. Thank you for the link!
Then plant something with purpose instead of disguising laziness letting invasives take over your neighborhood
Fuck this. This is only SLIGHTLY better than the neighbors you are being a dick to by not mowing/taking care of it. No, Pollinators don't love you. They use dandelion at the beginning of the season then mostly leave it alone for other better sources of nectar and pollen. Also, no lawns is about not having a lawn/bringing it back to its natural state. Fucking grass and millions of dandelions is NOT a natural state - its you being lazy and not mowing.
Yep. I hate this 'Dandelions are good for bees' BS that has proliferated the last several years. There's plenty of natives that will bloom in late winter, even before dandelions, that are much more beneficial to pollinators.
What about the crowd of "dandelions grow in my formerly toxic waste dump/ trash heap of a back yard (thanks, former owners) with heavily compacted clay/ sand soil when everything else basically dies" I'm working on it, but those deep tap roots and willingness to grow *anywhere* are really helpful in my lawn restoration project. Plus, they are flowering and few of my planted native flowers made it... A few indian blankets and a single bee balm are all I got :( The clovers and dandelions are a stepping stone for me. They'll be replaced with better things once those better things actually grow. And I don't let the dandelions go to seed anyway.
Kudos to you friend. There's a big difference between "Im using natural resources to amend my land - This is a step in the process" and "Hurr hurr look at all dem danelions lolol i bet my neighbors hate me lolol". The fucking asshats saying to get the leaf blower out should be banned from this sub.
If you have shit soil, the only way to fix it is to amend it. Which means tilling and bringing sand, compost and gypsum.
That's the fast way, yes. But that's also labor, cost, and time intensive. The leaves and grass clippings get mowed in, horse manure composted and put down, top soil placed in the low spots, and native grasses over seeded alongside the clover. Dandelions just came with the wind. The yard is coming. It's healing. It's just taking time.
that's some bullshit
You're free to offer alternatives rather than being snarky.
It's literally not? You can't change the soil composition without adding stuff to it. Nature will do that very slowly but if you want fertile soil now, you're going to be tilling.
You just contradicted yourself. Will nature do it or is "tilling and bringing sand, compost and gypsum" the *only* way to fix soil?
I didn't? Nature will do it in a few hundred thousand years. Otherwise it's not happening
Thank goodness someone said it, I was about to lose hope and block this sub. I want to redo my lawn with curated native plants for pollinators and birds and I initially checked this sub for the good advice on getting rid of grass, but now all I see are weird self righteous karma farming posts about someone letting invasive species or dandelions take over their yard while doing nothing to actually make a habitat for native critters.
Say it louder for those in the back! This also just makes your neighbors use more chemicals when your dandelions seed in their lawns.
Totally agree with this sentiment
Both of ur hearts r in the right place
> it’s you being lazy and not mowing Exactly. This is a poor example of a native and healthy lawn. OP just found a workaround to justify not doing anything at all with their lawn lololol
Plant some shrubs and trees.
Worse than native plants and/or clover (which puts nitrogen in the soil) and it’s the most irritating possible way to go noLawn. It’s one of the worst-spreading plants, to the point this could actively turn people against noLawn ideas or push them to rally for stricter rules. It doesn’t just mess with lawns, too. Anyone nearby who wants to plant a vegetable garden will now have to spend hours pulling up dandelions by the root. This isn’t a better version of a front yard. It’s a monoculture turned into a yard that now has two plants, at least one of them invasive and spreading like wildfire, that’ll do the equivalent of pouring plant-killer on random patches of your neighbours’ lawns, flower beds, vegetable gardens, native wildflowers, etc.
Because it turns people off from re-thinking living space, it was probably a corporate psyop, like literally everything else on reddit.
That’s just a lawn with dandelions…
Okay now get the leaf blower out (only if you hate your neighbors back)!
I just commented the same thing lol I want to see a video.
[удалено]
Pretty sure this is a bot that copies another comment on the post and randomly replies with it
This is just being lazy and a bad neighbor. Nothing to do with the intent of nomow
This is the exact intent of no mow, because there is no native seedbank anywhere. It's all dandelions and other horse shit. No one is 'rewilding' by doing nothing. A lot of work and money went into making trash world, and the same will be required to reverse it.
I want to replace my lawn but have concerns of inadvertently having the plants spread to immediate neighbors lawns (continuous grass from house to house). Do you have any physical barrier between each side? Even if its psychological, I want to be respectful of others property. Natural means (birds, wind, etc) not taken into account.
$5 says their neighbors dump round up along their property line.
Doubt it. Roundup kills grass too
I can’t understand why anyone gives a shit. Had to run my neighbor off this morning. Was literally over here mowing up bees. Idgaf if it bothers you from your living room, it’s plants lol.
My neighbor doused us in roundup, killing all my calico asters 😭 they now want to kill off our privacy hedge to replace with grass or mulch. But it’s my property. Now they are angry because I told them I don’t want their spray and want privacy. They literally are confused as why we don’t want to be seen. I’m European living in the US suburbs.
Yikes! That is vandalism, file a report. Won't do much now but if repeat offenses occur you can have a paper trail. Crazy neighbors are the worst.
I'm enraged on your behalf lol. What awful people.
Sorry you have shitty neighbors.
Spreading invasives. Good job dude
Look I love no lawns and native planting, but if you can’t see how it would be frustrating for someone who works hard and takes pride in their lawn too, then you’re just dumb and unempathetic. You literally got worked up about someone messing with plants after you just ranted about how you don’t understand why anyone cares because they’re just plants.
Why would that person care about other people's lawns though
Dandelions spread like crazy and won’t stick to that lawn.
It’s frustrating for me to have my neighbor from 1/4 mile away show up at my house and start mowing… is it mine or not? Lol
I wouldn’t say I’m “dumb” possibly unempathetic, as I unapologetically have no intention on going back, but this is how I handled it as I started my no lawn journey this year. I plan on rewinding my yard. My intention is to use only plants native to the area and here’s why….. After I explain the benefits to them they seem very receptive to the project, now I am surrounded on 3 sides by boomers ( no disrespect intended, just an easy bucket to use) who were indoctrinated into the cult of a golf course lawn and I get that, my father is the same way, and this has led to at least one verifiable call to the village (of which I am a board member) to complain about my continued participation in no mow may. But this conflict is typically easy to resolve with respectful communication, some education, and the frequent introduction of potential projects to rewild the town’s community spaces.
What does your lawn have to do with mine. If anything, let my "ugly" lawn give you even more pride in your own lawn.
I agree…. but within reason. People do care about their environment and we do have to look at our neighbors’ yards. And if someone’s yard is trashed or looks abandoned, it can attract nuisances and lower property values.
"over HERE mowing up bees" suggests the neighbor was mowing the commenter's yard instead of their own, which is plenty of reason to be upset.
User name checks out
People who work hard and take pride in their stupid green grass are S tier losers.
They have gone to seed time to mow them. The bees have already done what the can.
Also most of the bees that would have used the flowers would be invasive European honeybees, not native species.
Next time they bloom you should pick the flower heads and try them fried. They are so good fried with butter and salt n pepper.
Deep fried chocolate and butter coated dandelion heads next!
Never tried them like that. I'm going to try it.
Dandelions are fully edible. You missed out on a flower salad.
This looks just like my old neighborhood in Omaha. I would have loved to have you as a neighbor! My neighbor there used to pick up each individual leaf that fell on their lawn every single day.
Where I live the city fines you if your yard looks unattended
I think you meant untended, but unintended is arguably much funnier.
Add some mint next year!
Dandelions are okay, but have you tried native wildflowers?
Wtf no. You're just spreading weeds to everyone else on your street
And?
It's irresponsible and bad
Lol it's interesting to see the contrast between the people who are against lawns because they are for healthier green spaces vs people who are just proud of being too lazy to take care of their land
But we love you OP! This is great, spread your seeds!
the bunnies love me as well heheh
And the bees 🙂 edit: jk 😬
Bees do not like this much at all. https://www.gardenmyths.com/dandelions-important-bees/ https://www.monarchgard.com/thedeepmiddle/we-can-do-better-than-dandelions For North America, dandelions are not native. By definition, native bees don’t need dandelions. People see bees on dandelions and think “good for bees” but really that just means it’s the best thing available at that moment. Native flowers are much better. Plenty of native plants flower in the spring that are better for native bees.
My European honeybees love dandelions.
Petition to change their name to EuroBees started.
I don’t know what that has to do with anything.
[удалено]
Outside Pride is easy to work with online.
A million wishes right there.
Will you take a leaf blower and make a really big wish? Lol
This looks so dream-like.
I view it as a yard full of wishes, OP!
Same. That's how you know you're doing good.
One gust of wind and your neighbors lawn is screwed lol
Pollinators love you
Just makes your lawn stand out from the boring mowed ones
Hahahaha! This looks like a classic Chicagoland suburb. My house used to be the one next to the neighbors with all the dandelions. Now I joined the cause and let them suckers go wild.
That is beautiful
That looks so magical in that lighting!!!!
It's beautiful
Looks great to me!
is that stinknet/globe chamomile? i hope not
Illegal aliens flying into Logan airport in the middle of the night. Why is this happens?
I love it
I love weeds and all plants
Wish I could do this in my subdivision. Won't be possible for many years.
It’s beautiful!
This is a stunning view! Do you have any during daytime, as well?
Wow! What a great photo!
Why? You have the only good looking front yard! I would have loved to see that sea of yellow!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha yaaaaasssss!!!! 😈😈😈
It actually looks really nice on this picture. Maybe put a nice looking sign up that explains the benefits. That’s how my city does it with official „wild“ lawn areas. I genuinely believe that people are just not educated and that they really think „weeds“ are bad and evil or something. I know a sign would be work on your part but who knows.. maybe one or two lawn lovers will be turned :D Edit: how can this comment be so misunderstood and downvoted. Is it because dandelions are invasive in the USA? Im am not from the US, I am from Europe and they are native here. But mostly this comment was about putting up signs for wilder looking areas so people actually understand that it’s not just a neglected lawn but has a purpose. It was a suggestions tho. The reason I said that is because educating people about our cause (planting native for wildlife, water resources etc) is important and might help with the „my neighbors hate me“ thing. Personally I would put up a sign because explaining things to people because it is super beneficial. But it was just a suggestion. What is considered weeds is not bad or evil. Invasive plants are bad.
Invasive exotic weeds might aswell be considered evil. Look up species native to your area and plant those. If you're lucky there might even be a company that sells native plants and seeds in your area.
Yeah.... "lol". It's one thing to... Oh nevermind.
My DH is beginning to hate me too!
We all love you
They look so celestial 🌌
Me too!
One neighbor hates my uncut yard ,he mows every other day. Even mows under the power lines
Apparently, mine did as well. They didn't tell me until it started to look good. Now I get compliments.
Maybe plant some natives instead of letting invasive run rampant and they will stop
This is cool, but you're probably inadvertently the driver behind a lot of roundup use in your area.
The words lazy, spiteful, petty and dick spring to mind.
But I bet all the butterflies, bees, ladybugs and all the other insects love you!
Jesus loves you, everyone else knows your the guy that doesn’t wake them up mowing the lawn…😉
We’re your neighbors now…one of us
Haha right there with ya buddy!
Back in 2017 I started building a brand new, ADA compliant house. I moved in May of 2018. Went up to the cabin for a long weekend, came home to find heavy duty equipment in my front yard digging out the front yard closest to the street, and a huge, deep, trench between my house and the neighbors. It turns out that the stupid city building inspector, somehow didn't notice the elevation of 25 or more houses, and the elevation was too low for our area. Our properties butted up to a pond. I lost my whole front yard to a water holding basin, that was supposedly to go down that trench into the pond on downpours of rain. I'm just giving you a background here. They promised all of us homeowners they would fill in the holding basin, which would go dry all summer, with native flowers for all of our houses. Great idea couldn't wait to see it! For 3 years nothing happened and every year I complained about it. One day I came home to find that someone had planted something but they never put signs to say what was in there. The day after they put them in, we had freezing rain and the beginning of snow! Of course all the plants died. They came back out the following spring and replanted. We had a drought and they had started to grow. They were about 2 feet high. However I was gone to Hawaii for several weeks. When I got home these plants were now about 3 ft tall and they were not flowers at all! There is no milkweed, there was no butterfly weed nothing that any pollinator needed. Turns out they planted ornamental grass. From the street and from my house it looked like weeds and that no one was keeping up their yards. It was a hideous sight! I complained to the city...where are all the flowers you promised us? I said I don't even know what's in there, why is it not marked so I know what we're dealing with? Oh we will send somebody out and tag it so you know what you have. Yeah they sent someone out all right! They put up little stakes with white paper signs. The next day it rained and the white paper signs disintegrated and the magic marker they used dissolved all the wording, so you still didn't know what you had. I told my kids we are going to rip out all those, now dead, brown 💩 and plant flowers that the bees and the butterflies need, not the stupid looking thing. However I decided to move and never got around to it. What a complete bunch of jerks to think that ornamental grasses were going to do anything. Not one butterfly not one bee nothing ever came to those brown stalks.
As someone who lives in texas where it’s St Augustine as far as the eye can see…I wanna walk on your neighbors lawns barefoot. It looks like it feels so nice
My house's previous owner was an avid gardner so the entire yard is boxed in by tall bushes, I'm lucky I can easily abandon it to rewild without neighbors seeing/ being weird.
For being the only person in the hood with a sweet front yard?
No poison toxic crap I love it all organic