The lazy gardener’s guide
Where can you save money, time, and the planet simply by doing less? In your own backyard.
People in Gig Harbor, Washington, had long complained about the embarrassing mess along a highway interchange in their town. It was a neglected, overgrown 3-acre plot of grass and invasive plants that did not reflect well on this handsome community of 12,000, south of Seattle on Puget Sound. So members of the Rotary Club of Gig Harbor volunteered to bring in their tractors and brush cutters to mow it down. Again, and again, and again. For years.
To club members Gary and Chris Pellett, this didn’t make much sense. Chris Pellett is a lifelong gardener who has worked with conservation groups, and her husband, Gary, had been in the plant business for 50 years. They knew that mown grass does nothing for birds, bees, or the pollinators our planet depends on, and it is arguably the most unnatural, expensive, carbon-intensive, and time-consuming ground cover available.
So the Pelletts suggested “rewilding.” Rather than mow those 3 acres eternally, they proposed planting trees and shrubs native to the area. Because native flora have evolved over millions of years to thrive in a particular spot, they tend to be far easier to grow and far better for the natural world. Once they’re planted and established, you can just walk away and relax, just as you might strolling through your local nature preserve.
Left: Chris Pellett (pictured) and her husband, Gary, proposed rewilding land along a highway interchange. Right: Members and friends of the Rotary Club of Gig Harbor worked to complete the planting. Courtesy of Gary Pellett
And how was their idea received? Well, says Gary Pellett, a kind and mild-mannered person, “there’s a lot of resistance to change in our species.”
The Pelletts and many other Rotary members who work to protect the environment point to the research of people like Douglas Tallamy, an entomologist and ecologist at the University of Delaware. Tallamy has sounded the alarm about the dangers of ignoring the needs of the planet when managing our land, from backyards to the sides of highways to city parks. He believes that many of us have an antagonistic relationship with the natural world we depend upon and irrational fears about wildlife — especially insects. “We must abandon our age-old notion ... that humans are here and nature is somewhere else,” Tallamy writes in his book Nature’s Best Hope.
Without pollinating insects, we would lose about 90 percent of the flowering plant species on Earth. The lack of native bumblebees in Australia, for instance, has pushed some commercial tomato growers to try robot bees, which cost $10,000 apiece to make. Insects are so essential to our survival that the biologist E.O. Wilson once said: “If all mankind were to disappear ... the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed 10,000 years ago. But if insects were to vanish, the terrestrial environment would collapse into chaos.”
Plants and animals are declining at an alarming rate — it’s been called the sixth extinction — in large part because they are losing habitat to human development. That’s happening primarily through the expansion of cities, roads, farms, and ranches, but the replacement of native flora with mown grass in our yards also has a cumulative effect. In the United States, one study of suburban developments built between 1990 and 2005 found that 92 percent of the area available for landscaping was planted in lawn. Lawn covers about 45 million acres in the country today, almost as much as its national parks. Lawn is not only arguably the most expensive and high-maintenance ground cover, but it is what Tallamy calls a “biological wasteland.”
A colorful garden greets apartment dwellers in Shanghai. Weijie Gai (left) spearheaded the project. Courtesy of Weijie Gai
Tallamy has proposed that we manage our land in a way that considers not just neatness or convention, but also the natural world on which we depend. He points out that backyards in the United States collectively make up an ecosystem the size of New England, so a few simple changes could have a hugely beneficial impact on the planet. And one of the biggest things that has to change, he says, is our relationship to lawns.
Tallamy says that “lawns are terrible at delivering the essential ecosystem services we all depend on.” They produce less oxygen, cleanse less water, trap less carbon, provide no food to us or most other living things, and cost more time and money to maintain than other plantings. In the United States, lawn irrigation and other residential outdoor uses account for an average of more than 7 billion gallons of water daily. In arid parts of the Western U.S., up to 60 percent of household water use goes to irrigate lawns. Some cities and states, like Nevada, have placed restrictions on grass lawns, even requiring their removal from some properties in favor of less water intensive desert landscaping.
Half of the nitrogen fertilizer applied to lawns runs off and contaminates our streams, rivers, and groundwater. Those big-box store bags of lawn chemicals are bad for the planet, and very possibly bad for you: About 40 percent of the chemicals used by the lawn care industry in the United States are banned in other countries as carcinogens, and scores of studies show a connection between lawn pesticides and lymphoma, with pets and children most at risk.
Why our obsession with the greensward? There isn’t a single definitive answer. Tallamy suggests that maybe a lawn planted feels like dangerous wilderness tamed. Others claim that fields of green appeal to our ancient heritage evolving on grassy African savannahs, where open vistas made us feel safe from threats. Some point out that in the early years of the U.S., wealthy tastemakers on their estates tried to display their sophistication by mimicking English manors and creating not only massive lawns, which were prohibitively expensive to maintain for most, but by planting shrubs and trees from Europe and Asia. Two centuries later, we still equate a yard of clipped grass and nonnative shrubs trimmed to resemble green meatballs as signs of wealth and success. It could also be the lawn chemical and machinery companies busily telling us that grubs or clover reveal our moral failure. Or maybe it’s just ignorance: One of the simplest things you can do to a yard is mow it. And this isn’t just an American thing; in 2022, 65 percent of the revenue from lawn mower sales came from outside North America.
Whatever the reason, experts today point out that the lawn, riding mower, weed killers, bug killers, annual mulching, and leaf removal are all busywork, expensive and harmful to the natural world on which we depend. We could all save money, carbon, wildlife, and our own time if we simply did less lawn care. The win-win, in other words, is rewilding, which we could also call lazy gardening.
How to go wild
Shrink your lawn: Grass is the least environmentally friendly ground cover for most climates. It is nice for backyard games and parties, so ask yourself how much grass you actually need, and figure out ways to let the rest of your yard go natural.
Go native: Unlike the plants brought from other continents, native varieties are easier to grow because they have evolved to survive in local conditions and can naturally resist predators. If you live in the United States, you can find lists of native plants for your postal code at sites like the National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder.
Leaves are food: Few things are a bigger waste of time than hauling away leaves in the fall, then buying mulch in the spring — which might contain strange ingredients like construction debris and have been sprayed an artificial color. Leaves are a superior mulch, and they’re free.
Let go a little: Those weeds you’ve been pulling or spraying might be pollinators — and beautiful. Goldenrod, for instance, supports many species of insects, and the misnamed milkweed is not only more fragrant than many types of rose, but vital to the survival of monarch butterflies. Dead leaves, branches, and trees provide habitat for all kinds of good things.
Don’t spray or fertilize: Americans use about 13 million tons of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers each year, which releases six times that amount of carbon dioxide and equivalent greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Fertilizing also encourages invasive non-native plants, which bully out the natives.
Electrify: With your lawn shrunk to the size you actually use, your yard will be easy to maintain with an electric walk-behind mower and leaf blower, which are less expensive, longer lasting, and don’t emit noxious exhaust.
Begin a long journey with small steps: “It can be as simple as planting a native oak tree, since we know they attract the most pollinators,”advises Rotarian and pollinator advocate Chris Stein. “Even some native plants on a balcony helps. It’s scientifically proven to enhance the diversity of insects in urban areas.”
Members of Chris and Gary Pellett’s club in Gig Harbor were concerned about what kind of garden they should plant off the highway interchange, its ongoing maintenance, and whether enough volunteers would even show up to do the project. In the end, they agreed to plant a portion with plants carefully selected not only because they are native to the area but are particularly good for pollinators. Experts have compiled lists of what Tallamy calls keystone plants, which provide extra benefit to beneficial insects. According to the National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder, for instance, a willow tree in Gig Harbor supports 339 species of butterflies and moths, whereas a horse chestnut supports just 13 — and a non-native tree like a ginkgo might support nothing at all.
The Pelletts and their club started designing their project in 2022, working with the state transportation department that owns the land. Then, Gary says, “being good Rotarians, we bought the plants and got her done.”
About 30 people and a post-hole digger showed up on a cold day in February 2023 to plant about 175 trees and shrubs, including fir, pine, oak, Indian plum, red-twig dogwood, and Oregon grape. Environmental projects typically appeal to younger generations, and this was no exception. Chris Pellett says that the project enticed several younger, newer club members to volunteer. And the reaction from the local community and press was so enthusiastic that the club is planning to plant more.
Top: Restoring wetlands along the Boise River in Idaho. Courtesy of Laurie Zuckerman Left: A pollinator garden in Shoreview, Minnesota. Courtesy of Charlie Oltman Right: Rotary members traveled between Windsor, Canada, and Michoacán, Mexico, to educate people on monarch butterflies. Image credit: Monika Lozinska
This is just one of many Rotary rewilding projects around the world. Chris Stein, a National Park Service ranger, the chair of the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group’s pollinator task force, and a leader of Operation Pollination, says some 200 Rotary clubs on six continents have already signed a “pollinator pledge” and started projects to expand habitat for beneficial insects. Weijie Gai, for instance, a former Rotaractor and ESRAG member in Shanghai, rallied the residents of his apartment block to plant the space outside their building. Rotary clubs in Mexico and the U.S. raised money and began planting 60,000 oyamel (sacred fir) trees, the winter habitat for threatened monarch butterflies, at a sanctuary in the Mexican state of Michoacán. Ten Rotary clubs in southwest Idaho are working together to restore 18 acres of wetlands along the Boise River.
And many Rotary members, like Chris and Gary Pellett, are also changing their own backyards. They have “not been lawn fans for a very long time,” Chris Pellett says. They transformed their yard into a pollinator oasis by removing grass and adding native plants, ornamental stones, and other low-maintenance features. The result has been smaller water bills, more butterflies, more birds both in number and diversity than their neighbors, and a lot more free time to relax and enjoy the outdoors.
“I have people say to me, ‘That is so much work,’” Chris says. She admits that the upfront effort to plant natives is greater than just mowing. But five years in, “I think I spend a tenth of the time as someone with a lawn. I have to do some trimming in the spring and a little raking in the fall, and that’s about it. Whereas a lawn takes up a lot of time, money, fertilizer, and mowing every week. Think of all those hours.”
And isn’t that the real reason to have a yard? To enjoy the movements, sounds, and scents of the natural world? As Rachel Carson once said, “Those who dwell ... among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.”
This story originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Rotary magazine.