2024 Reduce Your Lawn Day Success

Inaugural Reduce Your Lawn Day Celebrates Success with Over 10 Million Square Feet of Turf Lawn Pledged for Transformation

June 4, 2024

The first-ever "Reduce Your Lawn Day," held on May 20th, 2024, marked a milestone in the movement towards sustainable landscaping and environmental stewardship. 

Nationwide, over 3,100 people signed the pledge to convert a portion of their turf lawns into sustainable alternatives. 

Combined, those pledges will result in 10.5 million square feet of ecologically diverse habitats intended to support pollinators, reduce pollution, and save natural resources.

The Inaugural Reduce Your Lawn Day's mission was sparked by a simple vision: educate, inspire, and help convert underutilized yards into beneficial spaces for a better world. Aiming to harness the power of collective action, the officially registered day will be repeated annually on the 20th day of May.  To make this year a success, American Meadows joined forces with Kathy Jentz, author of Ground Cover Revolution, and over 30 supporting organizations.

Here are 10 easy planting projects to get started and join the movement, recommended by the Reduce Your Lawn Day team.

1. Remove the grass along your driveway and replant with easy-to-grow wildflowers for a colorful border.
2. Plant perennials around your mailbox to brighten the neighborhood.
3. Flip the strip! Replace the grass between your sidewalk and the street with a mini meadow.
4. Create a pollinator pit stop by creating a garden island in your yard.
5. Expand your existing flower beds by pushing out their boundaries and adding more flowers.
6. Replace tough-to-trim grass along walkways and plant creeping groundcovers for a pretty pathway that doesn’t require mowing.
7. Build a raised bed near your house and plant an easy-to-access kitchen garden or cut flower bed.
8. Remove the grass along your fence line to create a beautiful blooming border.
9. Designate a corner of your yard “for the birds” and plant a garden of native plants.
10. Flank your front walkway with flower beds to boost your curb appeal and share the beauty of sustainable yards with your neighbors.
     

For more information about Reduce Your Lawn Day and to sign the pledge for your own planting project, learn more here: Reduce Your Lawn Day

Learn which turf removal option is best for you: Guide To Removing Lawn & Weeds

Explore the wide range of meadowscaping approaches to a better yard: Meadowscaping Learning Center

The 2nd annual Reduce Your Lawn Day will be celebrated on Tuesday, May 20th, 2025. Organizers hope to expand their support with new partners and reach 10,000 pledges for action. 

Reduce Your Lawn Day promotes a shift away from traditional turf lawns. Tabar Gifford, Master Gardener and Partnership Cultivator at American Meadows, shares that this initiative is “a call to action which highlights the need to lessen our impact on the planet and educate on how as individuals we can make a positive impact with collective efforts.”  

Kathy Jentz, author of Groundcover Revolution, celebrated the event's success and emphasized its broader mission. “Reduce Your Lawn Day is part of a larger movement to create a lighter environmental footprint on this planet and to act on our values to be more in tune with nature. Many folks are rejecting the mow-and-blow culture of the 20th Century and seeking a more enlightened alternative for the 21st Century and beyond.”

Paige Payne, Owner of Online Landscape Designs, praises the initiative’s approach to gradual change: "Reduce Your Lawn Day alleviates the sense of overwhelm that often accompanies the idea of completely replacing one's lawn. It emphasizes the notion that change doesn't have to be all or nothing and immediate. By taking small, gradual steps over time, individuals can significantly impact our ecosystems.”

In regions where lawn conversion may seem unconventional, Emily Snyder of the Urban Conservancy highlighted the importance of this nationwide effort: “In my region, people are often hesitant to try something that is new to them, and new to the area, even if it's been proven elsewhere. It's important for folks to know that the movement away from lawns is a nationwide effort.”

Gifford emphasizes “the lessons from this initiative are applicable throughout the year, and intended to shift the focus on how we approach our yards. Empowering individuals to make conscientious and sustainable choices in the spaces where they live, work and play.”

Learn More About Reduce Your Lawn Day

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