My Weedy Yard Will Now be Referred to as Diverse Instead :)
I live in the suburban town of Somerset, with my small yard on the corner of a very busy street and a side street. I am surrounded by much more manicured yards than my own, with chemically treated grass and imported shrubs that are kept well-trimmed. My yard is far from that, with what seems like more weeds than grass and less manicured looking gardens geared towards attracting and supporting pollinators than trying to look picture-perfect. I'm pretty sure my neighbors all shake their heads at me.
But as I've been walking around my yard, documenting and identifying all the different plant life growing just in my lawn, I'm beginning to feel even better about what my neighbors would probably refer to as my neglectful attitude towards it. I have a variety of lovely flowers dotting my lawn (3 different types of violets alone), and it's teeming with insect life already. Some of it you have to look really closely in between blades of grass to see, or even in the soil, but there's also way more bumblebees and even small butterflies already flying around my lawn. My neighbors don't have that much visible insect activity, and I'm sure below ground there's less too. I also have more robins and other birds than them, because my yard provides the insect food they need.
As the summer moves in I know I'll continue to have even more life in my yard, with more plants awakening and lots of pollinators and other critters thriving. My grass may be less than perfect, but I will embrace my yard as biodiverse!
Comments
That's great!!! Animals and insects love taller grass making such areas team with life. They suggest for people who want pretty yards but want to attract wildlife to keep one area of their yard wild. Animals like that just as much.
Very interesting! I hadn't realized that the less manicured places would have more birds, butterflies, and bees -- but it makes sense. Thanks for the observation.
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