07/05/2026
Come join us for another July Gather in the Garden. Mae Clark, owner of Urban Prairies on Mill Road, welcomes us to her home garden right in town.
The Clark’s first major gardening project after moving into their house was to remove half of the front lawn. They weren’t sure they knew at the time just how hooked on lawn conversion they would become. Here they are, ten years later, and they have only a small patch of grass left in the backyard. They rarely miss it and quickly embraced family walks to the park or the trails when they need more room. One of Mae’s favorite memories is the day her husband went out to mow the remaining lawn in the front and decided instead of mowing, he would rather go get a machine to remove the grass. That was a couple years after planting the first portion. And a couple years after that they took advantage of an empty boulevard during the construction on Rodney Street and opted to plant instead of having sod installed. There have been different motivators over the years, but a constant has always been to show others the possibilities of a lawn alternative that can save water, attract pollinators and shift lawn maintenance to caring for a garden.
Most of the plantings in the front have drip irrigation that was run regularly during the first establishment season. Now the Clark’s run it about a half dozen times a season, although some plants might prefer a little more often! They hand water any new plants and give the trees and evergreens regular water. The boulevard does not have irrigation and was designed to tolerate dry conditions. If Mae could resist adding more plants to it every year, she could probably get away with only watering it a handful of times a summer.
The backyard started as a big patch of grass (mostly bellflower!) surrounded by an aging hedge and volunteer trees that were overgrown. After removing the trees and hedge they were able to define planting beds in some portions. In other areas, they had to keep the worst of the bellflower covered for a number of years before being able to have garden beds. It's a mix of ornamental plants, vegetable gardens and playful creations.
The gardens continue to change as new seedlings find places to grow and they try to find a balance between control and chaos. Right now the scale is probably tipped toward chaos, but it sure invokes a sense of wonder. You'll be sure to find more than a couple weeds, plants that have spread too much, trial plants that are struggling and maybe even a few plants sitting in pots waiting to get planted. More importantly though, you will find a wide variety of plants supporting a wide variety of insects, birds and the occasional "other" city creatures happily sustaining themselves.
RSVPs are required for address information to Joane Bayer, [email protected] or Glenda Oestreicher, [email protected]. Hope to see you there!
