Replacing lawn with natural Prairie

Dear Vancouver,
I'm looking to replace a small front lawn with native, low-care plants.

Any experience with this? I live in East Vancouver, with a sunny westward-facing plot, about 5mX5m.

Ideally I'd like to fence it off and replace the poor unkept lawn with native flowers and vegetation. I expect to care for it in the fall and spring, but would like to minimize mowing during the summer to encourage wildflowers and pollinator/ insect habitat.

Looking for any advice/ guides . advice on the subject.

Many thanks!
Allen

 

Here are some guides:

Have a look at Leafy and Local: Leafy and Local via the GrowGreen Guides: Grow Green Guide Home

The South Coast Conservation Program has also released a Gardening With Native Plants guide: New Release! Gardening with Native Plants Guide

 

If you can wait a few days, I'm making up a list of native plants that would suit your requirements. Having growing BC native plants for over 30 years in Burnaby, I have a pretty good idea what would do well in your situation.

 

Thanks guys!

 

Westcoast Seeds in Ladner BC has some good info and seed mixes (Disclaimer: I am not associated with this company)

https://www.westcoastseeds.com/how-to-grow-guides/grow-wildflowers/

I definitely agree with their advice about making sure all previous vegetation is thoroughly gone - esp if it's lawn

it is really hard to get rid of grass growing up in the midst of your native perennials
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ALSO - have a look at your city local bylaws etc about having a wild yard - and are your neighbors good with this plan? Don't want the city to ticket you for this water-wise idea.

and on the positive side - maybe the city has info to help you do this
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also - there's "Naturescape BC" - Naturescape British Columbia - Stewardship Centre for BC

 

Hello Allen,

What a good idea to replace a small, boring lawn with plants that will give more colour and interest throughout the year.

I told you a couple of weeks ago that I'd put together a list of native plants that would do well in your garden but I think I misunderstood what you are looking for when I first read your post – perhaps because of the word ‘native’. To me, native plants are those that have grown on the south-west coast of BC for thousands of years. Most that would be suitable for your space are in their glory from late winter to early summer. By summer, there aren’t many colourful native perennials in bloom that would ‘encourage wildflowers and pollinator/ insect habitat.’ What I suspect you are thinking of are those wildflower mixes sold by seed companies. Mostly, the varieties they contain are native to other parts of Canada or North America.

If it is bona-fide BC native plants you want, here are some suggestions that grow well in a sunny location. I’d start with a tree or shrub and then choose a small selection of perennials, bulbs and groundcovers. There’s no reason you couldn’t add non-native wildflowers for summer interest but be careful not to plant too many plants all at once or you'll have a jungle on your hands.

Bulbs
Most of these bloom early and go dormant in early summer.
All these bulbs multiply prolifically by seed and bulb. Deadhead as necessary.
· Allium cernuum (Nodding Onion)
· Allium acuminatum (Hooker’s Onion)
· Brodiaea coronaria
· Camassia leichtlinii (Great Camas Lily)
· Camassia quamash (Common Camas Lily)
· Erythronium oregonum (White Fawn Lily)
· Erythronium revolutum (Pink Fawn Lily)
· Erythronium tuolumnense ‘Pagoda’
· Fritillaria affinis (Chocolate Lily)
· Triteleia hyacinthina (White Triteleia)

Groundcovers
All these groundcovers are evergreen.
· Antennaria microphylla (Rosy Pussytoes) – pinker flower than A. umbrinella
· Antennaria umbrinella (Umber Pussytoes) – spreads fairly quickly; easy to control
· Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Bearberry) – vigorous spreader; can develop galls
· Dryas octopetala (Mountain Avens) – spreads somewhat slowly; beautiful
· Fragaria chiloensis (Beach Strawberry) – spreads quite quickly
· Linnaea borealis (Twinflower) – very low; spreads well once established
· Sedum lanceolatum (Lance-leaf Stonecrop)
· Sedum oregonum (Oregon Stonecrop)
· Sedum spathulifolium (Broadleaf Stonecrop)
· Vaccinium vitis-idaea (Mountain Cranberry) – spreads enthusiastically

Perennials
· Achillea millefolium
· Anaphalis margaritacea
· Anemone multifida
· Aquilegia formosa
· Dodecatheon hendersonii
· Heuchera micrantha
· Iris tenax (native to westcoast US)
· Lewisia columbiana
· Lizula nivalis
· Sisyrinchium californicum (Yellow-eyed Grass)
· Trillium ovatum

Trees & Shrubs
· Acer circinatum (Vine Maple)
· Quercus garryana (Garry Oak)
· Ribes sanguineum (Red-flowering Currant)
· Tsuga mertensiana (Mountain Hemlock)
· Vaccinium ovatum (Evergreen Huckleberry)

 

as you already know Margot --- i'm on side with your suggestion of Acer circinatum --- best small lovely native maple - tolerates summer drought once established ... pretty fall leaves and nice structure thru the winter (no leaves)

the native red flower currant is good too

and - I did have an evergreen huckleberry (I think it was Thunderbird - out of the UBC botanical garden) - but it stayed when I moved. It liked a forest soil setting.

I would ADD "salal" -- again, takes a bit to establish -
and maybe Oregon Grape (mahonia)

and in the dry shade parts of Original Poster's garden - sword ferns (also native)

to fill in the bare patches while this garden design gets established - I'd plant some
a. California poppies (they will re-seed but are not hard to manage)
b. winter - some swiss chard - you can eat it! See the West Coast Seeds - my comment above. It might re-seed but is not invasive hard to manage.

we also (near greater vancouver) have
buddleaia (hummingbirds love it) - it spreads but not badly
and
elderberry - birds love the berries (red berries at the coast) --- it spreads a bit but is easy to manage

... look fwd to your updates

 

Evergreen huckleberry would be my first choice as a shrub or tree in Allen's 25 sq. meter space. It grows quite slowly, is gorgeous year-round and produces yummy black berries late in the summer. Vine maples are lovely too and more native to Vancouver than Garry Oaks for example. Several maples and several shrubs could be good start. In my experience, both salal and Oregon grape take over and are extremely difficult to keep under control - after a few years, it would be hard to interplant anything else that wasn't equally robust but, as you point out, popular with birds. As for buddleia, a great choice for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, it is important to choose one of the newer non-invasive selections.
Butterfly Bush: Planting & Caring for Non-Invasive Buddleia - Garden Design