From Turf to Native Habitat: How Suburban Lawns Are Being Rewilded

James Reed McGuire and Crystal Fritz, a former Chicago couple now living in Highland Park, Illinois, replaced their traditional turf with a mix of native wildflowers and grasses. Starting with aimless seed sprinkling and labor-intensive turf removal, they learned to identify region-appropriate species and gradually expanded the planting each year. Their yard now hosts birds, butterflies, bees, rabbits, bats and foxes, and the transformation attracted neighbors who asked for assistance converting their own yards. In 2023 the garden earned Certified Wildlife Habitat status from the National Wildlife Federation, underscoring its value for local wildlife.

The Guardian

U.S. lawns, largely composed of European grass species with shallow roots, cover an estimated 160,000 sq km (40 million acres)—more area than irrigated crops such as maize or wheat. These monocultures absorb little water, promote runoff of pesticides and fertilizers into waterways, and provide little food or habitat for pollinators. Historically, lawns signaled wealth and status; the invention of the lawnmower and widespread use of chemicals in the mid-20th century turned them into a ubiquitous suburban norm.

The Guardian

Ecologist Douglas Tallamy argues that fragmented parks cannot sustain biodiversity alone; the landscape between them must support wildlife. He founded the Homegrown National Parks initiative, urging homeowners to plant native species on even a portion of their lawns. Poet-academic Camille Dungy of Fort Collins, Colorado, converted her single-species lawn to a garden that is now about 70 % native plants, noting a marked increase in birds and pollinators. State-level policies are following suit: Colorado barred homeowners’-association bans on “water-wise” landscaping, California offers rebates for xeriscaped yards, and Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Virginia have introduced incentives or restrictions to promote native planting.

The Guardian

The National Wildlife Federation’s certification of the McGuire-Fritz garden in 2023 serves as formal acknowledgment of the ecological benefits of native-plant landscaping. Legislative actions—such as Colorado’s 2023 law protecting water-wise landscaping and Florida’s program paying residents to host burrowing owls—demonstrate growing governmental support for rewilding private yards.

The Guardian

• “We’ve got parks and we’ve got reserves, but we are headed towards a sixth extinction event, because those are too small, they’re too isolated and there’s too few of them. And the way we landscape in between the parks and reserves does not sustain biodiversity.” — Tallamy

The Guardian

• “We started as the first house on the block, and now everybody has some elements of this kind of low-water, pollinator-supporting landscaping,” — Camille Dungy

The Guardian