Lawns to Legumes Garden Gallery

Region

Twin Cities Metro Area

City

Eden Prairie

Project Type(s)

Pocket Planting, Pollinator Planting, Native Trees and Shrubs, Pollinator Meadow, Pollinator Lawn

Template(s) Used

None

Site Conditions

Part Sun

Gardener Name

Stew Anderson

Gardener Comments

In 2020, I applied and received a grant from the Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District and then contacted Ed’s Buckthorn Control out of Minnetonka.

His team removed my “vast buckthorn forest”, sprayed for invasive plants and seeded wild flowers, grasses, sedges and shrubs.

Wanting to further expand my pollinator yard effort, I contacted Lawns to Legumes (L2L) and applied for and received an Individual Support Grant. With the grant money I purchased a packet of 72 native plants that I ordered from Minnesota Native Landscapes in Otsego, MN.

In 2023 I was asked to be an L2L “coach” for new gardeners wanting to embrace the pollinator yard experience. Another new post-retirement position!

It is important to note that the continued maintenance is, indeed, demanding but so are the rewards!

Last year, 2024, we had a wet spring and the yard really took-off. For the 3 previous years, we had alternating periods of wet but mostly extended dry conditions that squelched the growth.

Patience is an absolute requirement. My mantra is: THE FIRST YEAR THEY SLEEP, THE SECOND YEAR THEY CREEP AND THE THIRD YEAR THEY LEAP. (or in my case, the FOURTH year!)

The invasives I am constantly fighting are buckthorn, creeping bellflower, creeping nightshade and Beggar’s Lice (native, yes, but a real pest!!!)

Wildlife Observed

Deer, a variety of song birds, turkeys, coyotes, red fox and an occasional bald eagle.