Lawns to Legumes Garden Gallery

Region

West-Central MN

City

Minneapolis

Project Type(s)

Pollinator Planting, Native Trees and Shrubs, Pollinator Meadow, Rain Garden

Template(s) Used

Other

Site Conditions

Full Sun, Part Sun

Gardener Name

Tami Traeger

Gardener Comments

I have been planting MN native perrenials in this yard since 2015. My entire front yard and both side yards are 90% native. Those areas have been no-mow since 2018. My goal is to cover most of the property in carefully curated native plantings.

My 2025 Lawns to Legumes project is a 285 square foot meadow in the back yard. I spent well over 25 hours digging out the weeds, planting plugs, and mulching it. I also spent just over $800.

The meadow project completely transformed the back yard. Finally deciding what that area should be has given me a vision for many other parts of the back yard. Several chunks around the meadow are now projects in progress.

Wildlife Observed

Since planting a significant portion of the property in native plants, I have seen a definite increase in pollinators as well as other wildlife. I regularly see Monarchs, black wasps, giant bumblebees, and various moths, including the Hummingbird moth. I love to sit outside in the Fall and listen to the hum of bees swarming my asters and goldenrods. I am desperately hoping to see fireflies someday as the meadow fills in the clearing between the trees and shrubs of the back yard.

There is a healthy population of rabbits, squirrels, and striped chipmunks. Cardinals, Robins, Catbirds, Finches, Hummingbirds and many other birds visit and chatter in the trees and shrubs. I have seen one fox and one coyote pass through. There is also a raccoon or opossum that occasionally leaves large amounts of feces full of raspberry seeds, but I haven’t actually seen the critter, yet.