No chemical use, no hauling, no digging, no smothering - no early-stage ugly phase. 

Sounds too good to be true.

Yet by gradually applying a series of light touch actions, you can achieve this organic transition without breaking your back, sparking ecological angst, or infuriating your neighbors. These actions can include timed mowing, selective height cutting, pH manipulation, and organic herbicide application.

In this session, Sara Weaner Cooper will discuss her lawn to meadow conversion (featured in The New York Times, 2024), including 2025 updates & plans, illustrating a homeowner’s perspective. Larry Weaner will explore case studies exemplifying the technical underpinnings behind this approach, from a landscape designer's perspective. This brains over brawn approach can transform the experience of creating residential meadows from daunting to uplifting.

Our accomplished group of presenters will include forager and wild farmer Tama Matsuoka Wong; Director of the Living Collections and Curator at The Green-Wood Cemetery Sara Evans; environmental consultant Dave Kaplow; environmentalist, wildlife advocate, and gardener Sarah F. Jayne; and NDAL Founder and Landscape Designer Larry Weaner. Topics will include cemetery case studies of less resource-intensive landscapes, DIY strategies for biodiversity and wildlife, “weeds” and gardening like a forager, residential meadows, introduction to ecology-based home gardening, and more.

Join Landscape Designer Larry Weaner and native plant expert Ian Caton on a deep dive into the integration of restoration ecology and garden design. From technical instruction to personal anecdotes, Larry and Ian will share over 70 years of combined experience on the fine points of designing, planting, and managing ecology-based landscapes.

A 4-part Virtual Intensive Course for Home Gardeners

Presented by Larry Weaner, FAPLD and Sara Weaner Cooper

Native meadows can be stunningly beautiful bird and butterfly magnets that require far less maintenance than mown turf or virtually any garden bed. Sounds great right? But it is only true if planned with an understanding of actual meadow ecology.

A 4-part Virtual Intensive Course for Home Gardeners
Presented by Larry Weaner, FAPLD

Our expansive format will allow Landscape Designer Larry Weaner to provide an in-depth guide for creating wildlife inclusive, ecologically productive, and highly manageable residential landscapes. Throughout the program Larry will interweave garden aesthetics with garden ecology, demonstrating how home environments can be both ecologically productive and experientially rich.

Sara Weaner Cooper and Evan Cooper knew that weekly mowing was not for them. So in place of their lawn, they began to imagine a meadow. The method, however, would not involve killing the turf grass first. Instead, they would plant and seed directly into it using some strategic techniques...with results that exceeded expectations.

Article written by Margaret Roach

View previously-held virtual NDAL programs at your leisure.

Part of American Horticultural Society’s Great American Gardeners Awards, the Horticultural Innovation Award is “given to an individual or company whose innovations have made the field of horticulture more sustainable and accessible to all.”

Is your organization holding a conference, workshop, or other type of event? Ecology-based landscape designer Larry Weaner and NDAL Executive Director Sara Weaner Cooper speak on a variety of topics.