Imagine not spending your Saturday morning mowing the lawn.  Think about the savings you could realize on your water bill if you didn’t have to water your lawn every day.  Wouldn’t it be nice to know you were doing your part to reduce the amount of chemical fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides entering our waterways?

Allow us to introduce you to the meadow.

All across the country, landowners are bucking the traditional, biodiversity desert that is the American lawn and are instead favoring a more natural approach.  According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, “Partly it’s a backlash against traditional lawns, which get a bad rap because of the quantity of water, chemical fertilizer, and energy they tend to consume. ‘People don’t want to be associated with something that wastes resources and energy,’ [New York landscape architect Lisa] Switkin says.”

We wholeheartedly agree! With the greater biodiversity that meadows support, it’s hard to frown at the idea of looking out your window and seeing butterflies and wildflowers rather than a single shade of green.  And with the range of seed mixes to choose from, landowners have an amazing array of options from which to design their ideal “lawn.”

But for sporting enthusiasts with larger properties, the benefits of a meadow landscape can be even more directly rewarding.  Indeed, meadows serve as perfect habitat for some of our favorite upland game birds, like grouse, quail, and wild turkey (to name just a few!).

If you’ve converted your lawn, we would love to hear which grass and flower species you chose.  And if you have photos, please post them on our Facebook page!

Photo Copyright: Jonathan Billinger