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21 hours ago
- General
In a sea of brown lawns, why some natural gardeners are bringing messy back
As abnormally dry weather sweeps across much of the country (new window) this summer, you may have found yourself staring despondently at the brown, crispy patch of fried earth you once called your front lawn, felt your fingers twitch in the direction of the hose and wondered: Should I? Am I even allowed (new window) ? But environmental and horticultural experts, as well as proponents of the no-lawn movement (new window) , say the question is actually whether it's responsible to have a full grass lawn at all anymore (new window) . The David Suzuki Foundation has previously estimated (new window) there are about 6.2 million lawns across Canada, and calculated (new window) that anywhere from 8.2 to 22.7 per cent of several large Canadian municipalities are turf grass. In 2021, two-thirds of Canadian households reported they had a lawn, according to Statistics Canada (new window) . These lawns are biodiversity deserts, according to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (new window) , supporting very few insects and wildlife. They're also notorious for their water waste (new window) and contribute to water scarcity. Maintaining them often involves harmful pesticides and fertilizers, while frequent mowing emits greenhouse gases. And with many Canadian cities experiencing prolonged dry conditions, many lawns are looking ... parched. Enter the no-lawn, anti-lawn (new window) or re-wilding movement (new window) , a sustainable approach to landscaping and an attempt to shift our perspective on what yards can look like — and their purpose. This can include a naturalized yard (new window) , a habitat garden, using yards to grow food, or even just converting a section of your lawn to dedicate to native plant species and pollinators. There's a crazy amount of lawn out there, like tens of millions of acres in Canada and the United States, dedicated to growing just turf grass, said Brendon Samuels, a postdoctoral fellow with the Ecological Design Lab (new window) at Toronto Metropolitan University. Which is an imported, non-native group of species that has no real ecological value, that is very expensive to maintain and that doesn't look so nice when you're in the middle of a heat wave in the summer. WATCH | People are rethinking lawns: 'Lawns should be area rugs' Naturalized yards have a range of benefits, Samuels said, like helping preserve the monarch butterfly species by growing milkweed, or making one's area more resilient to climate change with more green coverage. Native plants help keep areas cooler and damper during heat waves, because they have deeper root systems that can access groundwater, he said. They also help increase the resilience of landscapes during floods, he added. And yes, you don't need to water them as often as a turf grass lawn to keep them healthy, he said, making them more drought-resistant. Enlarge image (new window) Brendon Samuels, a postdoctoral fellow with the Ecological Design Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University, has a naturalized yard, pictured here in London, Ont. Photo: Brendon Samuels Last year, a study by the National Wildlife Federation (new window) found that 12 per cent of the U.S. adults surveyed said they were converting parts of their lawn to a natural or wildflower landscape. The movement is particularly popular with a younger generation seeking out alternatives to grass, and is prominent on social media, notes Home and Garden magazine (new window) . And Garden Design magazine (new window) predicted that native plants and eco-friendly gardening will be the No. 1 gardening trend of 2025, followed by less tidy gardens. On Pinterest (new window) , there are some 23,000 searches for naturalistic garden. Some videos on TikTok (new window) about growing native gardens have millions of views. We're bringing messy back, said Grant Minkhorst of Toronto, known as Gardening Grant on TikTok, in a video last month (new window) with 25,000 views where he shows off his thick vegetable beds, lunging perennial border and droopy prairie coneflowers. My measure of success is how much food did we produce? How many pollinators visited our gardens? That's about it, he added in the description. And on Reddit, there are some 283,000 members of the "no lawns" subreddit (new window) , an online community devoted to alternatives to monoculture lawns. There, people there share photos of yards filled entirely with pink coneflowers and sprawling yellow coreopsis; leafy plants that climb over fences and fields of purple bee balm. As nature intended, commented a Redditor on a video of someone's sprawling, buzzing yard. (new window) Enlarge image (new window) Samuels included his family, pictured here, while planting a rainwater garden at his home in London, Ont. Photo: Brendon Samuels The more we can stop being tidy, the more wildness we can bring into our gardens and landscapes, the better habitat we provide, said New York-based ecological horticulturist Rebecca McMackin in a 2023 Ted Talk video (new window) played more than 1.3 million times. Why not get rid of your lawn, or shrink it drastically? she said. Lawns should be area rugs, not wall-to-wall carpet. Have you ditched your grass for a naturalized lawn? Send us photos at ask@ The lawn as a status symbol Lawns are a cultural import from 17th- and 18th-century Europe, where they were symbols of wealth and status, said Samuels — back then, you needed significant resources and labour to be able to maintain one. People default to the lawn because it's very normative in our culture, Samuels said. What we're seeing increasingly is people starting to question those norms and look for alternatives. A man mows his lawn in this 1956 archive photo. Lawns are a cultural import from 17th- and 18th-century Europe, where they were symbols of wealth and status. / Three Lions That said, some people who have ditched the grass have faced hurdles. Lawn naturalization has been recognized as a constitutional right (new window) for decades in Canada, but bylaws haven't always caught up, and The Associated Press (new window) notes that many homeowners' associations still have rules about keeping yards manicured. Samuels himself came up against bylaw (new window) when he created his own naturalized backyard and rainwater garden in London, Ont. CBC News has previously covered cases in several cities across the country where people have come up against bylaw complaints about their natural yards — but also others where those bylaws have shifted to allow people to keep their yards as is (new window) . Some cities, such as Toronto (new window) , offer grants for community-led projects to create pollinator gardens or convert a lawn area into one. Others offer exemptions (new window) to mowing height bylaws for residents who create naturalized areas. And while some may assume naturalized yards would attract more pests, such as rodents or ticks, the opposite has been found to be true, according to a 2024 report (new window) by the Ecological Design Lab. And the David Suzuki Foundation explains that simplified environments, like turfgrass lawns, favour white-footed mice, a key reservoir for Lyme disease in Canada. A traditional lawn is one of the worst landscapes for wildlife — and one of the best for ticks. There's a balance to be had here, Samuels said. We're not going after anyone's lawn, he said. But I think municipalities and individual property owners should be considering, 'Do we need this much lawn?' WATCH | The problem with lawns: Corrections An earlier version of this story on the CBC News website included a photo caption that misidentified Brendon Samuels. In fact, the people in the photo are his family members. Aug 13, 2025 10:38 AM EDT Natalie Stechyson (new window) · CBC News · Senior Writer & Editor Natalie Stechyson has been a writer and editor at CBC News since 2021. She covers stories on social trends, families, gender, human interest, as well as general news. She's worked as a journalist since 2009, with stints at the Globe and Mail and Postmedia News, among others. Before joining CBC News, she was the parents editor at HuffPost Canada, where she won a silver Canadian Online Publishing Award for her work on pregnancy loss. You can reach her at X (new window) Instagram (new window)
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Here's how you can make your garden a safe and biodiverse space for urban wildlife
Biodiversity is essential to mitigating and adapting to climate change, enhancing the resilience of ecosystems and safeguarding the ecological functions that all living beings depend on for survival. There is little doubt that we are at a critical point in the loss of biodiversity in Canada with thousands of species currently in danger of disappearing, while global experts continue to warn about Earth's ongoing sixth mass extinction. As a response to the cascading climate crisis, wildlife habitat gardens have grown in popularity. These are spaces designed to attract and sustain local wildlife, and include efforts such as rewilded meadows, pollinator patches, rain gardens, naturalized lawns and others. Cultivating a garden for biodiversity is not an all-in or nothing task. In fact, there is a wide range of simple actions anyone can take to regenerate and conserve biodiversity right at home. We are currently organizing a biodiversity public literacy campaign at the National Environmental Treasure, a people's trust fund devoted to funding Canadian environmental organizations. Last year, we partnered with Prof. Nina-Marie Lister and the Ecological Design Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University on their Bylaws for Biodiversity research, along with Nature Canada and FLAP Canada, to develop Gardening for Biodiversity resources. Supporting biodiversity in your garden Together, we've created a series of free, fact-based guides to help people learn how to cultivate biodiversity and support for wildlife habitat in private gardens. This series currently includes four comprehensive booklets, each focusing on key aspects of biodiversity gardening: Yard Naturalization: A How-to Guide Myths & Misconceptions: Naturalized Gardens, Ticks, Mice, Rats & Other Pests Bird-Friendly Gardens: Supporting Bird Habitat in Every Season Good Garden Practices: Underrated Practices & Top Plant Picks. While there are plenty of great garden practices out there, these are five easy and impactful ways to boost biodiversity and cultivate a garden safe for urban wildlife, taken directly from our booklets. Use alternatives to pesticides Pesticides in your garden can harm beneficial insects and can be detrimental to the environment, wildlife and human health. Instead of using chemical-based pesticides, try natural alternatives like biopesticides, horticultural oils and insecticidal soaps that can be just as effective. Likewise, attracting predatory insects and wildlife into your garden who will actively feed on the harmful pest is also an effective starting point as this is a process of pest-control that occurs naturally in healthy ecosystems. There are also DIY pesticides, such as sea salt spray, water-vinegar mixtures and coffee grounds. Leave the leaves Decomposing plant litter, like fallen dead leaves, tree bark, needles and twigs, is an important component of maintaining soil health, nutrient cycling and biodiversity. By choosing to leave the leaves in your garden, you will support the variety of species who overwinter in them, from bees and caterpillars, to butterflies, spiders and more. Prioritize pollinator-attractive plants In addition to pollination, insects are beneficial for a variety of other reasons including for pest control, seed dispersal and decomposition. The best way to attract insects largely depends on which insect you are trying to attract. But as a general rule, it is always a good practice to source plants locally and prioritize native species. Next best to native plants are benign ornamentals and non-natives. Cultivating a diverse range of flowers, especially native plants and herbs, promotes a resilient ecosystem. It also helps natives out-compete invasive species and to reverse the downward trends of mass species decline. Read more: Make your garden safe for birds Birds contribute to healthy ecosystems: they pollinate plants, disperse seeds and prey on insects. Unfortunately, North American bird populations are experiencing a rapid decline due to habitat loss, degradation and other global pressures. Aadopting bird-safe gardening practices offers a powerful way to combat these threats and support biodiversity conservation on a local scale. Beyond core habitat elements, additional practices can enhance the garden's appeal to birds. Organic gardening without pesticides or herbicides, keeping cats indoors, removing potential entanglement hazards and using bird-collision prevention markers on reflective surfaces can not only attract birds, but also ensure their safety as well. Advocate for biodiversity Although there's been a growing movement toward more biodiversity-supporting practices, outdated municipal bylaws and enforcement policies continue to limit the potential of habitat gardens. These disputes over the scope and application of bylaws have brought attention to various legal contradictions and outcomes that negatively impact progress on biodiversity recovery, all the while undermining and negating related environmental objectives on private land. By advocating and encouraging your municipal leaders to adopt science-based biodiversity-supportive bylaws, you help to establish the legal frameworks and political agendas that directly impact long-term ecological health and promote sustainable development and the regeneration of biodiversity. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organisation bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Ann Dale, Royal Roads University and Sabrina Careri, Toronto Metropolitan University Read more: The golden oyster mushroom craze unleashed an invasive species – and a worrying new study shows it's harming native fungi Hosepipe ban survival guide: which garden plants to save and which to sacrifice Livestock and lions make uneasy neighbours: how a fence upgrade helped protect domestic and wild animals in Tanzania Ann Dale receives funding from the CRC Secretariat, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Hewlett Foundation. Sabrina Careri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
