Lawns to Legumes Garden Gallery

Region

Twin Cities Metro Area

City

Minneapolis

Project Type(s)

Pollinator Lawn

Template(s) Used

None

Site Conditions

Shade

Gardener Name

Anonymous

Gardener Comments

This sloping front yard was once grass, but the grass and weedy creeping Charlie began to fail when the elm trees began to fully shade the yard. With the help of the Lawns 2 Legumes grant, and hostas donated by neighbors, the front slope was converted to hostas and the relatively flat top of the yard and the boulevard was converted to an assortment of shade-tolerant native plants such as Northern sea oats, wild ginger, bloodroot, wild phlox, Solomon’s seal, Joe Pye weed, wild violets, bellwort, figwort, and more. (Also visible are purple shiso plants which escaped cultivation.) Editorial note: I no longer live at this location and the yard has not been directly tended for 2 years, aside from removing the fall leaf litter.

Wildlife Observed

Many birds use the garden, hunting for insects in the leaf litter and vegetation. Robins are plentiful. Other birds hunt the insects in the air— I once witnessed a sparrow in hot pursuit of a moth. The little moth made a beeline for me in hopes of safety, and at the last second the sparrow veered away and the moth escaped!