Homeowner shares unbelievable before-and-after photos of rocky yard transformation: ‘It will only get better’

When this homeowner wanted to plant a garden, they first had to remove an entire backyard full of rocks.

Most of the yard transformations in the r/NoLawns subreddit involve homeowners removing turf grass lawns or other non-native, unwanted plants. This time, the homeowner already had low-maintenance, zero-water xeriscaping, but they weren’t happy with how it looked or how it felt.

“The small backyard we had was just all giant rocks and were awful to walk on and had a bunch of garbage throughout it,” said the Redditor.

The photo they shared shows what may once have been a smooth bed of river rocks, but has become disorganized, with heaps of stone in some areas and bare direct in others. Dry leaves and sticks are scattered across the rocky surface, which runs from one edge of the small yard to the other.

Thankfully, there’s more than one way to tailor affordable and eco-friendly yard designs. Stone wasn’t right for this homeowner, so they took it all out. “Removed all rocks by hand,” they said, showing off the bare, smooth dirt surface.

Next, they added plants to the space. “Planted a ton of wildflowers along the fence … Moved some ferns over to the back and added ground cover,” they said. In a comment, they clarified that they were choosing only native plants, which need little care and no water beyond the area’s natural rainfall.

The result of their work, visible in their “after” photo, is a lush space that’s beginning to fill in nicely, even after only a year of work. The ferns and flowers along the fence give the area a jungle vibe, while the rest of the space is dotted with patches of blue star creeper, a plant with small, pale blue flowers that will one day grow into a thick carpet underfoot — much nicer to walk on than hard, unstable stones.

“That’s such a good start, and after only one growing season!” said one commenter. “Keep it up; it will only get better!”

“What happened to the nice stones? Could definitely utilize them still,” asked another commenter.

“We gave a lot away to friends and put the rest along the side of our house which gets minimal sunlight and foot traffic,” the original poster replied. “They have come in handy on random projects for sure!”

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