How to Replace Lawn With Wildflower Seed Mix

Looking to reduce or replace your grass lawn? Try eco-friendly options like wildflowers, clover, or fescue mixes suited to zones 3 to 9 in Canada and the U.S.

Also see How to Grow a Pollinator-Friendly Garden Without Freaking Out Your Neighbors.

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Good-Bye Grass, Hello Pollinators

If you are ready to give up some or all of your lawn in favor of more environmentally sustainable and pollinator-friendly options, there are several alternatives to turfgrass including low-growing wildflowers, clovers, and fescues.

We know traditional lawns are not good for the environment. That green, carpet-like grass that blankets much of suburban North America requires frequent mowing (fuel, time, pollution), gobbles up water, and sends hazardous runoff from synthetic fertilizers to our waterways.  

Topped off with herbicides and devoid of flowers for pollinators, we’ve created massive green wastelands.

Lawn seems so practical and pretty until you weigh the environmental costs.

I realize most lawns will not go away in this century but just think of those millions and millions of sterile green lawns that could become life-sustaining eco-corridors just by ditching the chemicals and planting more diversely.

For me as a gardener, it’s been a personal evolution over many years but these days my garden choices are guided by what’s best for the beneficial insects which is key for becoming part of local eco-corridors. And, by gardening to support wildlife, you in turn get flowers, food, beauty, and sustainability.

Plus, life is just too darn short for frequent lawn care.

Faced with a lot of grass lawn at our current home, I am always looking for more low-care plant options that support wildlife.

A small amount of lawn may be useful. The rest is fair game.

Keep reading for ideas on how to make the transition.

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Getting Real About Replacing Lawn

Sun or Shade: Look for a wildflower mix to suit your growing conditions. There are lots of options available.

Converting lawn into a pollinator haven is not as simple as sprinkling some seeds.

Contrary to popular belief, you cannot just let your lawn grow out and think you will have wildflower meadow.

And neither can you toss wildflower seeds on top of grass lawn and think you’ll be swimming in flowers.

Everything depends on what you’ve already got—how aggressive or invasive the existing plants are—and your growing conditions. And odds are, there are not any native plants politely waiting nearby to make a grand return.

I decided on low-growing wildflowers but, if you want a meadow instead, the new book Lawns into Meadows by Owen Wormster walks you through that transformation process.

Seeds Need Soil Contact to Germinate

Wildflower seeds need contact with moist soil to germinate, and, if any do make it, turf grass will out-compete them. That’s the nature of the beast. Traditional lawn grasses are chosen specifically for this quality.

To successfully replace some or all of your lawn requires

• Choosing the right seeds for your climate and growing conditions.
• Proper soil preparation including removing all other plants and roots in the planting area—in the least harmful way possible.
  
  If you are preparing a large area, this cardboard method will do most of the work for you.
• Some ongoing maintenance.

It’s also important to let go of perfectionism and focus on the good you are doing. And once you see the life it brings, an appreciation for true natural beauty follows.

This means working with nature, not against it: tidy is for houses, not gardens.

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How I’m Replacing Lawn With Wildflowers

After researching various options, I decided to sow an alternative wildflower lawn mix (details below) in parts of my yard where I have been pulling out an invasive ground cover (creeping Jenny | Lysimachia nummularia).

I also have patches of lawn that have naturalizing flowering bulbs.

While the urge to purge the entire lawn is real, I want to test small areas first to be sure it’s worth the time and money to seed larger areas.

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How To Transition From Lawn to Wildflowers

1Soil Preparation

The instructions say to start the seeds in late spring but we had a cold snap in June so I held off until the end of June.

To get started, I cleared the sowing area of plants and roots and put down a layer of top soil.

Many wildflowers mixes do best in poor quality soil. I have lots of that so I did not add any compost or manure.

We got a massive rain storm the same day I sowed the seeds. I was worried they would wash away.

2Week One

Germination conditions were clearly perfect because this is how it looked just a few days later. Lots of seedlings!

The straggly-looking plants among the seedlings are some lavender plants I transplanted from another part of the garden. The purple flowers are hardy geraniums and not part of the mix.

I hand-watered the entire sowing area daily if needed to keep the soil moist for the first two weeks.

There were a few bald spots so I added some extra seeds to those areas.

2Week Two

By the second week everything was filling in nicely.

3Week Six

At this point the seedlings are young plants, about 8-inches tall. I can tell there are several species growing but so far only the white alyssum is flowering.

This area is prone to weeds and a few have shown up (that are prominent in my soil) but the alternative lawn mix is winning so far.

This is how it looks close-up.

The seed mix contains perennials, biennials, and annuals so many will self-seed if left in place.

So far I’m really happy it.

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~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛