We bought 4 acres in a rural area subdivision zoned for farming and one acre is along a property boundary. It includes a sloped, wooded streambed and opens up to a uneven and sloped terrain that is is covered in pasture grass and dead trees and wood. I love it. The deer love it. The owls and woodpeckers love it. Last summer it looked beautiful and had lots of butterflies. Even so, I want to try to make it look somewhat more presentable as we have new neighbors now who bought the house next door despite the way it looks but now are encroaching, weed whacking and otherwise trespassing on our property and trying to take it. We have cut all the vines like bittersweet, kudzu and others, kept the grape vines, and removed an old wire farm fence. They seem undeterred. Our conservancy is not interested in coming out to help or advise as this area is only about .8 acres and there are no target species they are interested in. The people next door came from a town home HOA and have called the county on us who have said nothing because we are not out of compliance. We have general restrictive covenants but no positive covenants meaning as long as we dont violate the language we are okay but I thin they think they can just order us to clear terrain that has never been disturbed at all. This woman is so lucky to have nice neighbors. She has a beautiful yard.
Appreciate the work, and the humor. “I lived with the spiders, I was damp from the forest, the beetles knew me and the tri-colored bees, I slept with the partridges immersed in the mint.” Pablo Neruda
We experienced a severe drought from spring-fall of 2021 here in the Chicago area. The lawn prairie did great with zero supplemental watering! Some species stayed very short, while some were unaffected.
I normally buy my wild flower seeds from the Dollar Tree or Dollar General they got these packets that are like pollinator flowers and hummingbird flowers and some other stuff mixed into the packet I just throw them on the ground and let them grow
really great video... so much more valuable than just some photos or a write-up or whatever, excellent job - hope everybody with a boring lawn in the US copies this...it really doesn't matter if you're in a different bioregion... the northeast, mid-atlantic...some of the plants may do well, some may change...but you can still have a nice native meadow that provides beauty and habitat and is part of rehabilitating the environment
I put cardboard down then completely covered with leaves ( I did mine in the fall .) Don't have to do more it breaks down on its own, then plant seeds in plain soil
Yeaaaa I feel I might have a problem with my project lol. I didn't lay anything down, covered a quarter of the area with just good compost/black dirt, quarter of lawn clippings and dirt on top of that, and the other half I currently have lawn clippings on. I'll add black dirt/compost in the fall before I seed the winter sowing seeds. 🤷🤔 Ps. I aslo planted on a 15ft by 90ft sand berm to prevent a basement from flooding lol. So mowing will be a problem also 🤦😅
Weeds make flowers too :) but seriously looks beautiful! I let dandelions grow too. Very beneficial and medicinal. I want to turn my entire lawn into a prairie.
I cringed every time she said weed 😬. I let my backyard go to “weed”. It just took a few months over the winter to get it going. Currently 22 species of wildflowers are growing in my yard. I have pollinators everywhere. The PICTURE THIS app has helped me tremendously. I can identify now identify plants even if they aren’t blooming. Save the photos to the “my garden” section and there is a place to make notes about each plant. I LOVE dandelions. Good luck!
@@thehedgerow that app is the most fun I’ve ever had! I was that kid that was always asking what’s this flower? What’s this plant? I tried PlantSnap but it misidentified too many plants. Good luck!
I’ve been wanting to do this at my Villa Park IL house for some time… ideally what you ware doing in the back and then wondering if there is a shorter option in the front .. I’ve read about sedges that would work possibly but there are many kinds. Do you know anyone for hire, not a crazy expensive lawn service but someone who could help me plan the change? I am in construction so I have some guys who can help with the labor but I need guidance. I could just go off of this, but I need help in the areas that can’t go so high like the front yard. I’ll check for the land trust but not sure if they have that closer to the city. Thank you for this. ❤ I am a good researcher but my time is limited and I dont want to keep putting this off. I am grateful for this information
I lived in Hanover Park ,Illinois I must have been lucky because the first summer I planted Wildfolwers on one side of my house ,I used seed strips I don"t know if thy still sell them but ever type in the mix bloomed that same Summer ,it was the easest growing experience I ever had I enjoyed looking at them .I really don"t like Grass it is to much work and time costing.
This is absolutely beautiful. We have an acre in Champaign county, so Zone 5B rather than 5A. To your knowledge, are there resources available in my area for a transformation such as this? Our property is predominantly monoculture grass, but we are looking at permaculture and food forest options for portions and I would like to do a significant portion of it as a wildflower meadow as well.
Can I jus buzz my lawn to almost nothing then rake out the grass and spread wildflower seed an let it go ? I live in south Florida thought if I just throw down annual seeds they will just keep reseeding and I won’t ever have too reseed ? Not sure tho any advice ?
Cutting sod out only an inch down? That was certainly not my experience. I would say four to five inches deep to get all the roots out from years of grass and grass like growth before creating a mostly native grass garden in New Hampshire. This is a great video, thanks!
Good for you, here in Canada Ontario, Ottawa i had to cut all my beautiful wildflowers, that’s law, some one reported to city, I’m not cutting my weed!!! So sad,
looks nice , but its not wildflower meadow, not wild enogh . im from Romania , we do do have untoched wilflower meadows. the seeds mix is not the right one , the proportion of flowers is not ok also.
An untouched meadow would soon be covered in tall grasses and eventually bushes and trees. The probably cut the meadows with scythes every year to get the hay. Plus we have different species of flowers in Europe compared to America.
probabaly packed with natural animals, I've never seen any rats in my meadow. you are just giving lame excuses. if you have rodent issues just seal up your homes holes, that's the real issues. no one cares about mice outside.
Awesome video. So much information.
This is the first and possibly only time I’ll ever say this, and I don’t wanna hear about later…yaaas queen!
We bought 4 acres in a rural area subdivision zoned for farming and one acre is along a property boundary. It includes a sloped, wooded streambed and opens up to a uneven and sloped terrain that is is covered in pasture grass and dead trees and wood. I love it. The deer love it. The owls and woodpeckers love it. Last summer it looked beautiful and had lots of butterflies. Even so, I want to try to make it look somewhat more presentable as we have new neighbors now who bought the house next door despite the way it looks but now are encroaching, weed whacking and otherwise trespassing on our property and trying to take it. We have cut all the vines like bittersweet, kudzu and others, kept the grape vines, and removed an old wire farm fence. They seem undeterred. Our conservancy is not interested in coming out to help or advise as this area is only about .8 acres and there are no target species they are interested in. The people next door came from a town home HOA and have called the county on us who have said nothing because we are not out of compliance. We have general restrictive covenants but no positive covenants meaning as long as we dont violate the language we are okay but I thin they think they can just order us to clear terrain that has never been disturbed at all. This woman is so lucky to have nice neighbors. She has a beautiful yard.
Appreciate the work, and the humor. “I lived with the spiders,
I was damp from the forest,
the beetles knew me
and the tri-colored bees,
I slept with the partridges
immersed in the mint.”
Pablo Neruda
Great work! So glad to see this beautiful prairie
Thanks for sharing and fielding all the questions.
My jaw literally dropped. So beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
Hello from Auckland, New Zealand ...Love what ya done !!!
You're a meadow rock star, thank you for all the great info!
Absolutely beautiful! This is exactly what I want to do. Thanks for your very instructive video.
Can we get a 2021 update? 😊 Thanks
We experienced a severe drought from spring-fall of 2021 here in the Chicago area. The lawn prairie did great with zero supplemental watering! Some species stayed very short, while some were unaffected.
I normally buy my wild flower seeds from the Dollar Tree or Dollar General they got these packets that are like pollinator flowers and hummingbird flowers and some other stuff mixed into the packet I just throw them on the ground and let them grow
Definitely planning to do this down here in Mississippi once I move out of this subdivision.
W0W !!! That Looks Great, Merry Christmas from Auckland, New Zealand ...
New Zealand? WOW! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too!
Wow! This is so valuable. Love your answering questions from people more at my (beginner) level.
really great video... so much more valuable than just some photos or a write-up or whatever, excellent job - hope everybody with a boring lawn in the US copies this...it really doesn't matter if you're in a different bioregion... the northeast, mid-atlantic...some of the plants may do well, some may change...but you can still have a nice native meadow that provides beauty and habitat and is part of rehabilitating the environment
Excellent job!
Great job. Thank you. Getting started out west of you in Sterling
Thank you so much for doing this. Some IL love from McLean county
I put cardboard down then completely covered with leaves ( I did mine in the fall .) Don't have to do more it breaks down on its own, then plant seeds in plain soil
Great presentation.
Absolutely beautiful ❤️
Yeaaaa I feel I might have a problem with my project lol. I didn't lay anything down, covered a quarter of the area with just good compost/black dirt, quarter of lawn clippings and dirt on top of that, and the other half I currently have lawn clippings on. I'll add black dirt/compost in the fall before I seed the winter sowing seeds. 🤷🤔
Ps. I aslo planted on a 15ft by 90ft sand berm to prevent a basement from flooding lol. So mowing will be a problem also 🤦😅
Very beautiful
I wonder if there's anything like that for Peoria County
Do you have the same tick / lyme disease problems we do here in the Northeast? It's one of my biggest concerns with rewilding.
Native habitat attracts predator insects like spiders, wasps and lady bugs, etc. you’ll see less ticks. Not more.
im from mexico and im excited to do this,sadly here i cant reach for help
Use clear plastic to smother. Higher temperatures because of solarization.
Great video, but would like to know how to erradicate nasty Johnson grass from a wildflower meadow
Weeds make flowers too :) but seriously looks beautiful! I let dandelions grow too. Very beneficial and medicinal. I want to turn my entire lawn into a prairie.
I cringed every time she said weed 😬. I let my backyard go to “weed”. It just took a few months over the winter to get it going. Currently 22 species of wildflowers are growing in my yard. I have pollinators everywhere. The PICTURE THIS app has helped me tremendously. I can identify now identify plants even if they aren’t blooming. Save the photos to the “my garden” section and there is a place to make notes about each plant. I LOVE dandelions. Good luck!
@@butterbeanqueen8148 goals!!! I’m gonna do that!
@@thehedgerow that app is the most fun I’ve ever had! I was that kid that was always asking what’s this flower? What’s this plant? I tried PlantSnap but it misidentified too many plants. Good luck!
I’ve been wanting to do this at my Villa Park IL house for some time… ideally what you ware doing in the back and then wondering if there is a shorter option in the front .. I’ve read about sedges that would work possibly but there are many kinds. Do you know anyone for hire, not a crazy expensive lawn service but someone who could help me plan the change? I am in construction so I have some guys who can help with the labor but I need guidance. I could just go off of this, but I need help in the areas that can’t go so high like the front yard. I’ll check for the land trust but not sure if they have that closer to the city. Thank you for this. ❤ I am a good researcher but my time is limited and I dont want to keep putting this off. I am grateful for this information
Where did you get your seed mix from?
I lived in Hanover Park ,Illinois I must have been lucky because the first summer I planted Wildfolwers on one side of my house ,I used seed strips I don"t know if thy still sell them but ever type in the mix bloomed that same Summer ,it was the easest growing experience I ever had I enjoyed looking at them .I really don"t like Grass it is to much work and time costing.
Spectacular! I’m always looking for places to replace non natives w natives.
This is absolutely beautiful. We have an acre in Champaign county, so Zone 5B rather than 5A. To your knowledge, are there resources available in my area for a transformation such as this? Our property is predominantly monoculture grass, but we are looking at permaculture and food forest options for portions and I would like to do a significant portion of it as a wildflower meadow as well.
find out if it inhibits all monocots, like corn or grains before using it.... if you want a food forest
Can I jus buzz my lawn to almost nothing then rake out the grass and spread wildflower seed an let it go ? I live in south Florida thought if I just throw down annual seeds they will just keep reseeding and I won’t ever have too reseed ? Not sure tho any advice ?
Cutting sod out only an inch down? That was certainly not my experience. I would say four to five inches deep to get all the roots out from years of grass and grass like growth before creating a mostly native grass garden in New Hampshire. This is a great video, thanks!
Good for you, here in Canada Ontario, Ottawa i had to cut all my beautiful wildflowers, that’s law, some one reported to city, I’m not cutting my weed!!! So sad,
How does it look few months later?
How much seed did you use?
why would you pull up golden rod?? It is such a good pollinator friendly native.
Is yearly burning necessary? I thought it was advised to keep some plant stalks as habitat for overwintering insects?
no not needed
What zone are you in? I'm 7a I think, (in Canada)
How do you smother it?
Nice view idol thanks for sharing this video godluck blogger new friend here
Thank you.
Isnt canada goldenrod native in the midwest..? Its a really good plant for butterflies, hoverflies, ladybugs and other native insects
It's absolutely native she was just recommending plucking out because it'll out complete the other species and take over the entire area.
How do you smother a lawn? Do you just atop watering??
Cardboard, newspaper, tarp, plastic
why would you remove canada goldenrod? its such a key fall plant for pollinators..
It becomes very invasive and displaces other stuff. There are many native varieties of golden rod that are not overly aggressive. .
what is the web address link for the LEARN facebook group? when I search for it on facebook there are thousands of groups with the word learn in them.
Here is the link: facebook.com/groups/1928559444026512
DO YOU HAVE A LIST OF THE SEED IN YOUR MIX?
Would it be helpful to let some grazing animals in now and then?
Deer
What variety of potato was used to record this?
I buy my wildflower seeds from Dollar General for a dollar 25 a packet they got all kinds of seed 4 for $4 dollar 25 for 14 G
I LIKE!!!
What if I “smothered” the lawn by spraying vinegar and orange oil vegetation killer?
You r cool
♥️
❤️❤️❤️🌿🌸🌻🌺🌸🌻
ua-cam.com/video/qosK_5HJ3QM/v-deo.html
Indian grass has been the most aggravating aggressive thing in my native prairie
Have to pull much? I started some to line the side of field as a background and snow fence then have flowers in front
Unfortunate you felt the need to pull the Canada goldenrod - by far the most important type of prairie plant for the ecosystem …
I noticed almost everyone she almost been talking to their name starts with a J☺
No one ever says what state they are in. How are viewers supposed to know where in the country you are?
she says near chicago IL, USA
That will be a forest unless it's mowed every few years.
r lucky that you don't get fined from the city for over 6 inches tall that happened to me
yes that can happen
I guess if you are designing a meadow you need to be away from agriculture using this plant? Does it change the soil to inhibit all monocots?
looks nice , but its not wildflower meadow, not wild enogh . im from Romania , we do do have untoched wilflower meadows. the seeds mix is not the right one , the proportion of flowers is not ok also.
An untouched meadow would soon be covered in tall grasses and eventually bushes and trees. The probably cut the meadows with scythes every year to get the hay. Plus we have different species of flowers in Europe compared to America.
Looking forward to your Romanian wildflower video, professor
She kills the “weeds” naturally occurring in nature. I don’t understand this very “forced” meadow.
your video looks about the same, lol. ua-cam.com/video/MzwtbyGqJP8/v-deo.html stop being a hater!
My senators are illiterate.
mowing doesn't make sense to me??? sure you kill the weeds, but you also kill the flowers. right?
you keep it really tall so only the taller weeds are cut not the smaller flowers
Doesn't look like there's much Flowers
Probably packed with rats. I don't wanna do this now
probabaly packed with natural animals, I've never seen any rats in my meadow. you are just giving lame excuses. if you have rodent issues just seal up your homes holes, that's the real issues. no one cares about mice outside.