The house on Broadalbin Street where wildflowers have taken over the space that used to be lawn.
Albany residents Mark Spence and his wife, Katy Allaback, no longer have to worry about watering or mowing their front lawn. They’ve planted a colorful assortment of wildflowers instead.
I read something Mark had posted about this on Facebook, so a couple of weeks ago I took a bike ride past his address in the 700 block of Broadalbin Street. Then, this week, I visited with him on his front porch to learn more:
As you heard him say, the little meadow of wildflowers in their front yard needs no watering dring the summer. But come fall he’ll have to scythe the stalks of the dead flowers and turn them under with a rototiller.
With that in mind, and considering the labor and expense of getting the meadow started after eradicating the lawn and bringing in new soil, this is hardly the way to avoid yard work altogether.
But if you consult Google, you’ll find that “meadowscaping” — the idea of turning your yard into something more natural than a carefully cultivated lawn — is catching on.
One reason, as Mark mentioned, is the benefit of providing a natural habitat for bees and other pollinators, which are crucial for food production but are threatened by all sorts of developments in our world.
And then there’s the beauty that a variety of wildflowers provides, especially in the middle of town. (hh)
The variety of wildflowers makes for a colorful mosaic.
And here’s one of those pollinators at work in the Spence front yard on Aug. 20.
Nichols garden nursery in Philomath, formerly of Albany, has an Eco Lawn seed mix. This mix is a combination of low growing/maintenance grass seed, clover and wild flowers. It is drought tolerant.
Mark (and Katie)! Nice job!
Your welcome to come and do our landscaping.
From your friends Craig and Sharon.
Did you try to identify how many different bees were working the flowers? Weaver seed, Crabtree, also has flower mixes for sale.
It strikes this reader that the concept of “meadow-scaping” rings a great deal of a new and troubling phenomenon referred to as “Lawn Woke-ism.” This practice, held dearly on the fringes of your “New Age” home-owner society, pines for the demise of traditional lawns, replacing them with allegedly eco-friendly yard-scaping.
Lawns have been at the forefront of the Middle American Dream, wherein lush, golf course quality grasses are admired more than your so-called “natural” plantings and yet there is a Woke Element in society who would force you to adopt to their preferred lawn.
All one need do is recall recent ominous warnings by some about the FBI “raid” on #45’s Mar-a-Lardo residence, best exemplified by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene when she said: “If they can do this to a former president, just imagine what they can do to you and your lawn.”
Speaking of lawns, what kind of weeds have you been smoking?
Your comment is so absurd, I can’t believe it’s not satire.
Meadow lawns are simply an option that offer those interested a way to conserve water and attract pollinators.
Some people have lush lawns, some have vegetable gardens in their front yards, some eliminate the front lawn and landscape with rock designs. I’ve seen this all and more in my neighborhood.
To each their own, dude.
LOL How is the so-called Woke Element “who would force you to adopt to their preferred lawn” any different from Albany Municipal Code 7.84.120?