Homeowners are increasingly re-wilding their homes with native plants, experts say

(NEW YORK) — The days of the perfect-looking yard — often lawns that guzzle copious amounts of water to stay green — may soon be gone.

Homeowners are increasingly opting to “re-wilding” their homes, incorporating native plants and decreasing the amount of lawn care to make their properties more sustainable and encourage natural ecosystems to recover, according to Plan It Wild, a New York-based native landscape design company.

About 30% of the water an average American family consumes is used for the outdoors, including activities such as watering lawns and gardens, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In the West, where water is absorbed almost immediately by the sun or thirsty vegetation, outdoor water usage can increase to an average of 60% for the average family.

As concerns for the environment — as well as increasing utility bills — grow, so do homeowners’ preferences for how they decorate their yards.

“I don’t want to mow it. I don’t want to water it,” Judy Vigiletti, resident of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, told ABC News. “There’s a lot of lawn, and I need to get rid of it.”

Vigiletti is in the process of removing a large chunk of her lawn — an aesthetic that has taken hold of the modern American neighborhood — and replacing it with native plants.

Embedded in her vision for her new yard are the sights of a natural environment.

“I can just imagine when the wind blows in, the leaves are swaying and the plants are moving,” Vigiletti said. “And that’s what I’m looking for — that kind of harmony.”

Live vegetation native to the region, such as shrubs and trees, provide many benefits once established. They require much less maintenance, including little water beyond normal rainfall, according to the EPA. They also provide collection for stormwater and water quality benefits as well as carbon sequestration.

A method of “tucking in” the plants with a bit of mulch helps them to retain moisture, Dave Baker, co-founder and COO of Plan It Wild, told ABC News.

Vigiletti is among a growing movement of homeowners who are choosing regional vegetation over the traditional lawn, according to Plan It Wild. The landscape design company has seen a surge of people wanting to get rid of their lawns, a trend they have dubbed “rewilding,” Joanna Hall, CEO of Plan it Wild, told ABC News.

When Jane Balter moved into her home in Mount Kisco, New York, it was almost all grass and trees. She began re-wilding the space four years ago, she told ABC News.

One of the biggest challenges she ran into was learning the specifics of her property — some areas were wetter and some drier.

“So that’s sort of a trial and error, and then you learn from what you did and see what’s growing,” Balter said. “And you just plant more of that.”

Now, Balter describes her outdoor space as a “sanctuary.” In a once wildlife-less landscape now lives biodiversity. There are now deer, fox, coyote, birds and insects that venture into her yard, she said.

“It’s the feeling, is just gratitude, really,” she said. “That something that was so lifeless has become so full of life.”

Even early in Vigiletti’s yard transformation, monarch butterflies, have already begun to appear. Populations of the iconic species have been on a steady decline in recent years, according to researchers.

Hall estimates between 40 to 60 million acres of lawn across the country. The lawn is being over-watered and being flooded with pesticides, she said.

“Nothing is wrong with grass,” she said. “It’s that in America, we just have too much.”

This story is part of our Climate Ready series – a collaboration between ABC News and the ABC Owned Television Stations focused on providing practical solutions to help you and your family adapt to extreme weather events and the current challenges of climate change.

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