This question could fall under a few forums: Wild flowers, Native habitats, Gardening for wildlife, Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees, or Landscape Design, but this forum seems to have some traffic so I'll ask here.
I've recently read Garden Revolution by Larry Weaner and Thomas Christopher, and I'm now reading The New American Landscape by Thomas Christopher and others. Next up I plan to read Bringing Nature Home, and The Living Landscape by Doug Tallamy. These books all present reasonable arguments and strategies for more sustainable landscapes, like replacing lawn areas with regionally adapted meadow, shrubland and woodland, or a combination of these. Has anyone here actually done this, either in partial or in full, on your property? I'd be interested in your experience implementing the change, and the obstacles you faced, and strategies you used to overcome them.
I have a little less than an acre in NJ that had been foreclosed and unmaintained for quite some time, with several large mature trees that aren't from this ecoregion, and an understory of weak turfgrass and invasive vines, herbaceous weeds, and shrubs. The region has been cleared, farmed, developed and repurposed so many times over the centuries that a book I read to find out more about the natural landscape, has invasive species listed as part of the regional plant community. It even concedes that very few remnants of the original landscape remain in my region. I'd love to convert it to a more ecologically valuable piece of land, but the entrenched invasive species on the property and in the wider region are going to make it extremely difficult. Even turning it back into a decent suburban lawn would prove to be an expensive long term project. What's your take on reforming a piece of property in this way?
