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June 21, 2006
Today was the first time we have ever had anyone from the neighborhood show interest in our uniquely landscaped yard. We were working in the front yard putting in a new flagstone path. A guy from three houses down walks up, nods in the direction of the mulch covered yard and asks "What's going to happen with all this mulch?"
Benia and I have discussed what the neighbors might be thinking about our yard, but of course we could only guess. So at first I wasn't sure where this guy might be coming from. He followed up with "Is the grass going to come back through it?" I answered that the grass would not be coming back and that it was our intention to foster the growth of native plants instead. Further conversation made it clear that our neighbor thought we were trying to create a better lawn by starting over. Once it was made clear that we were actively working to eliminate the lawn, he was actually interested in the concept of our alternatively landscaped yard. I gave a quick tour of the back yard which is further along in the transformation and hopefully it made a good impression. There were questions about "flowers" and weeds of course. Unfortunately, it is mostly grasses blooming in our yard right now, so there wasn't a lot of showy color. I encouraged him to consider native plant landscaping in a part of his yard and invited him to stop by if he has any other questions on the subject. Overall I think it went well and we were glad to get some feedback.
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