Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
If you can't tell — we're a group of "lawn loathers"....meaning, we want to minimize non-native lawn, which can be high maintenance, dirty (considering all the pesticide and fertilizer use) and quite sterile for wildlife (read: doesn't provide any food, coverage, or habitat).
So we started to do research on alternative lawns, low- to no-mow lawns, and native lawns. We were wondering if even a low-mow or no-mow, native lawn even existed, and lo and behold, one of those lawns existed right in our backyard, which was orchestrated by Krissy Boys of the Cornell Botanic Gardens and team. We met up with the Natural Areas Director at Cornell Botanic Gardens, Todd Bittner, to take us through the genesis of the lawn and how it performed after its inception in 2009.
If you can't tell — we're a group of "lawn loathers"....meaning, we want to minimize non-native lawn, which can be high maintenance, dirty (considering all the pesticide and fertilizer use) and quite sterile for wildlife (read: doesn't provide any food, coverage, or habitat).
So we started to do research on alternative lawns, low- to no-mow lawns, and native lawns. We were wondering if even a low-mow or no-mow, native lawn even existed, and lo and behold, one of those lawns existed right in our backyard, which was orchestrated by Krissy Boys of the Cornell Botanic Gardens and team. We met up with the Natural Areas Director at Cornell Botanic Gardens, Todd Bittner, to take us through the genesis of the lawn and how it performed after its inception in 2009.
