Novice gardeners James Reed McGuire and Crystal Fritz wanted to try something new when they moved out to the suburbs. Little did they know they were joining a nationwide movement
When James Reed McGuire and Crystal Fritz first decided to replace their lawn with native plants, they did not really know what they were doing. As former city-dwellers who had moved from Chicago out to the suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, they had never done much gardening together beyond growing some planters of herbs and flowers on their balcony.
But for McGuire, an avid birder who did not want to live with a sea of turf that does “absolutely nothing for the environment”, figuring out an alternative to the suburban status quo was imperative.
Crystal Fritz and James Reed McGuire’s Highland Park front garden before they transformed it with native plants
The couple’s early attempts to rewild their lawn were full of what they now deem missteps. They bought mixed wildflower seed packets and sprinkled them about aimlessly, rather than identifying specific species native to their area and planning where they should go. They tried digging up the turf by hand with a shovel, labour so difficult that McGuire laughs when he thinks about it now.
But with each mistake, they learned. Despite having no horticultural training – Fritz works as a personal assistant, while McGuire is a creative director and writer – they slowly figured out how to identify native plants for their region and experimented with the best ways to grow them from seed to keep the project economical.
Now, Fritz and McGuire’s garden is a thriving native ecosystem in the middle of the suburbs
They designed layouts for their garden that would allow them to enjoy blooms for as much of the growing season as possible. Every year, they added a few more native plants and every year they watched as more pollinators and birds were drawn to the garden.
• Start small. You do not have to dig up the whole lawn at once; you can just pick one corner to work on and remove a small piece of turf.• Remove any invasive species.• When researching which native plants and wildflowers to use, look for ones that attract pollinators. In the US, you can source your plants using the native plant resource directory at Homegrown National Park.• While it might take some effort to establish the plants at the beginning, many gardeners find that less exotic plants actually take less maintenance in the long run because they have evolved to live in the same conditions in which you are planting them.
Today, McGuire and Fritz’s lawn has been transformed from a monoculture of turf to a thriving native ecosystem in the suburbs. The abundance of native plants provides food and habitat for a plethora of wild critters: sightings of birds, butterflies, bees, rabbits, bats and foxes are now common occurrences.
“It’s really a stunning environment,” says McGuire. “It brings us a lot of peace and tranquility in a very troubled world.”
McGuire and Fritz in their yard: ‘It’s so rewarding,’ says Fritz
As the first in the neighbourhood to make this switch, McGuire and Fritz have received an “unbelievable amount of positive feedback” from passersby. Families go out of their way to walk by the house so their children can see the abundance of fireflies there. One couple nearby asked for McGuire’s help in converting their own yard into a native habitat.
The house has been featured in a local garden walk for the past few years, and the city granted the couple permission to landscape the city-owned roadside verge in front of their home to extend the habitat they created.
And it is not just McGuire and Fritz’s human neighbours who love what they’ve done with the place. In 2023, their garden was designated a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation, proof that their landscaping is a boon to wildlife, too.
