Rewilding My Lot

When I recently attempted to level the uneven front lawn with extra soil, I didn’t have enough soil to do anything with the front strip between the sidewalk and the street. I may do more leveling next year. This is the area I’m talking about, still growing back after the summer’s drought.

The front lawn was installed with Bermudagrass by the builder. I’m not a fan of Bermudagrass, or monoculture lawns in general, so I am taking a rather liberal approach in deciding what may grow there. I do periodically mow the lawn and trim the edges, because I want it to look tidy. However, if a plant can survive that regimen, I am often inclined to let it stay and fight it out with the Bermudagrass.

In fact, there are some plants that I will encourage because they are low growing and support pollinator insects, and Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora) is one of those things.

I have an abundant supply of healthy Frogfuit in the back yard, which needs to be trimmed every few weeks.

Here are photos taken before and after trimming:

After one of those trimming sessions, I took a bucket of rooted stems to the front and inserted several of them into the front strip. I also took the opportunity to try to scrape down some of the higher mounds to do a little leveling, although it’s not nearly enough.

On another day I will probably insert more Frogfruit into the side portions of the front yard as well. I certainly seem to have an unending supply.