Let my backyard go to clover and I've never been happier

[Cirsium]

32. Good for you

We run an organization dedicated to that. You can send me a private message if you want more info.

Plants that are native to your locale support pollinators, moths, and butterflies, and nesting songbirds while alien plants will not for the most part. Presuming you are in North America, clover is an alien species. I am not too aggressive in removing it, as it does fix nitrogen and is an early source of nectar.

The native Common blue violet (Viola sororia) does an excellent job of replacing a lawn, so well that people see it as a weed in their lawn and it is neglected as a result. It spreads by rhizomes - underground "runners" - and can fill in an area pretty quickly. It is the larval host plant for Fritillary butterflies.

Here is what our front yard looks like now:



In the back row left to right there is Rudbeckia triloba (Brown-eyed Susan), the Spotted Joe Pye weed (Monarch favorite here by far as they fuel up for the trip to Mexico). In the middle ground left to right there is Sweet Joe Pye weed, Boneset, and Sneezeweed. The blue blossoms here and there are Lobelia.

In the front row left to right we have more Sweet Joe Pye weed and Lobelia, White snakeroot, then Culver's root - the white "spikes"- and in the lower right we have Jewelweed, which is the favorite nectar plant for Hummingbirds here.

In the background the foliage is of Red honeysuckle, Thimbleberry, some Viburnums and Dogwoods, Maple and Yellow Birch, among others.

All native to this area, mostly from seed. We have close to 300 native plant species on our property, and an amazing array of nesting songbirds - Red-eyed Vireo, Indigo Bunting, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Wood Thrush, Black-throated Green Warbler, Redstart, etc.