Reduce Your Lawn Day

Reduce Your Lawn Day is a national call to action to transform underutilized yard space into thriving ecosystems with simple planting projects. Small changes, multiplied across thousands of yards, create real impact. Take the pledge and be part of a movement where collective action leads to lasting change.

Sustainability begins in your backyard.

 


Reduce Your Lawn Day badge
Denver backyard transformed into a waterwise garden
This Denver, CO gardener replaced her entire back yard with a waterwise garden. Click the photo for a garden tour!
Castle Rock backyard transformed with waterwise plants
This gardener in Castle Rock, CO replaced his entire back yard with waterwise plants. Click the photo for a garden tour!

Learn More About Reduce Your Lawn Day

4 Reasons To Reduce Your Lawn
10 Easy Planting Projects
5 Ways To Support The Movement
4 Not-So-Fun Lawn Facts
Photo Gallery
Helpful Resources

4 Reasons To Reduce Your Lawn

1. Create Habitat
Traditional turfgrass is a dead zone for pollinators and birds. Reducing your lawn helps rebuild habitat right in your yard.

2. Reduce Pollution
Gas-powered mowing and blowing creates air, ground, and noise pollution. Less lawn means less pollution.

3. Remove Harmful Chemicals
Lawn fertilizers and pesticides harm waterways, soil health, wildlife, pets, and people. Ditch the chemicals to protect all of the above.

4. Feel Better Outdoors
Gardening is good for mental and physical health—lower stress, more movement, more fresh air.

Sign The Pledge

10 Easy Planting Projects To Reduce Your Lawn

  1. Replace the strip along your driveway with an easy wildflower border.
  2. Plant drought-tolerant perennials around your mailbox.
  3. Flip the strip (parkway) for a beautiful park strip garden.
  4. Add a pollinator pit stop with nectar-rich plants.
  5. Expand beds and fill with low-growing groundcovers.
  6. Border walkways with colorful, fragrant perennials (get ideas).
  7. Swap hard-to-mow lawn areas for no-mow perennial groundcovers.
  8. Line fences with shrubs or tall ornamental grasses.
  9. Create a bird corner with bird-friendly plants and natives.
  10. Brighten shade with shade-loving flowers & foliage.

More ideas? Get This Look: Waterwise Yard Ideas

Ready to remove your lawn? See our guide

5 Ways To Support Reduce Your Lawn Day

  1. Share your photos with #ReduceYourLawn or #ReduceYourLawnDay, or submit photos here.
  2. Join the Facebook Group.
  3. Share this page with local groups, neighborhoods, or Master Gardener/Extension programs.
  4. Download the Yard Sign or Poster.
  5. Sign the pledge.
Sign The Pledge

4 Not-So-Fun Lawn Facts

  1. Modern turfgrass lawns surged in the Victorian era with the first lawnmower—time for an update.
  2. 40+ million U.S. acres of lawn make turfgrass the largest irrigated “crop.”
  3. ~800 million gallons of gasoline are used annually on lawn equipment (>$2.4B in fuel).
  4. Gas-powered lawn equipment contributes up to 5% of U.S. air pollution.

Sustainability begins in your backyard. Replace turf with waterwise, pollinator-friendly alternatives.

Reduce Your Lawn Photo Gallery

Add #ReduceYourLawn or #ReduceYourLawnDay to your posts—your photos can appear here!


Partners In Reduce Your Lawn Day

Together We Can Make A Difference

Reduce Your Lawn Day is brought to you by High Country Gardens, American Meadows, and Groundcover Revolution author Kathy Jentz.
Thank you to our partner organizations for supporting and celebrating the movement. Want to join us? Contact us and be part of the change.

Conservation Garden Park
Ghost Ranch
The Great Grow Along
The International Hummingbird Society
Localscapes
Meadow Pro
University of New Mexico Taos
Online Landscape Designs
Plant Select
Resource Central
Utah Water Savers

Helpful Resources