Your excerpt has the absolutely necessary CC. Thank you for that. As best I can figure out Hometown Habitat does not have CC.

We had mowed turf long before power mowers came into existence so I doubt that people will ever be interested in giving it up. Some might be interested in going back to manual cutting or animal grazing, depending on the size of the lot.

In California there has been a movement, now probably at least 2 decades old, for wildlife habitat gardening. From the California Native Plant Society website:

"“Habitat Gardening,” also known as “Backyard Restoration,” refers to the process of converting traditional landscape plans in privately owned yards or public spaces to those that attract and support native birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife. Habitat gardening greatly benefits wildlife by providing food, shelter, water and nesting places and is typically characterized by a more natural, less formal feel, with more variety in plant choices and naturalistic placement and pruning of plants."

The concept can be adapted by degrees to even the most urban of gardens. It is surprising the wildlife that exists around us and is just waiting for an invitation by providing more welcoming garden practices.

I have followed some of the concepts, but one must be prepared for nature to take its course in your garden. Most recently, a larger bird attacked and drove off a pair of orioles nesting in my ornamental banana, leaving behind an abandoned egg. Cats hang out by the water features meant to serve the birds, and just as lions in the Serengeti go after the wildebeest and gazelles, the domesticated cats like to snag hummingbirds and house finches at the water fountains. : ( The great circle of life, etc. etc. Events have altered my management practices to help protect the garden visitors to a degree, but the reality is that not all wildlife is truly welcome in the backyard garden.

HERE is an interesting article about how mowed, manicured lawns originated. W. Wilson kept sheep on white house lawn! kiminpl's observation about cats is appreciated and its not excusive to feral cats. Ground nesting birds are the first to disappear when suburbia encroaches the countryside. YouTube has several videos on trapping feral cats. What I am seeing is an increase in habitat gardening such as butterfly/hummingbird gardens, rain gardens and "no-mow" landscapes. One of the few insects that benefits from mowed turf is the Japanese Beetle grub which we can all do without. In the film, Tallamy makes the point about host specific butterflies/moths. they require specific plants as food for their caterpillars. This fact must be kept in mind when choosing plant material.

The more tick predators you can entice to hang out, the better I think. That is one thing. I find the most ticks in the most invaded overgrown spots, not as many in deliberately managed woodlots. I'd encourage mature growth on vegetation, emphasize natives, reduce weeds. Absolutely manage your shrubs. That's the main problem, ticks jump off from vegetation that is human height, which when you are restoring an area, is just about everything. I worked in tick infested areas for years, I always wore protective gear, used DEET, tick checked after every work session.

Woodyoak, an article I read recently opined that keeping chickens is believed by some to vastly reduce tick populations; the counter argument is there is no definitive study to confirm that opinion. Worth a try.

Chickens don't appeal to me much and I wouldn't be surprised if they were not permitted here in suburbia :-). I'm also not a big fan of applying chemicals to myself.... Oh well, I suppose we'll eventually adapt to tick-checking ourselves etc., but it's all a bit scary and intimidating at this point!

We wore light clothing to protect most of our bodies and put the DEET on it, the kind made for clothes. Not good clothes, they would get ruined. Also tucked our pants into our socks. DEET is bad, but lyme disease is way worse. I was out removing invasive species in tick infested woods every day, so my risk was high. I mostly put it on my neck and arms. I wore a hat or bandana to protect my head. Also screened out the sun.

Pink Muhly Grass as seen here at the Nat'l Arboretum, a great alternative to conventional lawn grasses.

Do you live anywhere close to the capital area? If so we will have a screening of Hometown Habitat on Sept 18, 6:30 PM @ Fairlington Community Ctr, Arlington VA. I will be there, will you? LINK

Once again a discussion that is based on some very broad generalities that do not necessarily have a uniform relevance. Not all suburban gardens are similar in presenting a closely mowed lawn, gumdrop sheared shrubs and privet hedges......therefore not all suburban gardens are lifeless and boring :-)) That is one of the advantages of having a professionally designed landscape, as a talented and experienced designer will bring in many other elements that don't fit that stereotype.

I give seminars on gardening with wildlife and not all wildlife is to be encouraged!! Nor do all homeowners or hobby gardeners necessarily want to encourage a lot of wildlife........many species are very disruptive to both a garden and to one's residence, if allowed any means of access, intentional or accidental (armadillos, raccoons, skunks, nesting bees and wasps, rats, etc).

However, for those who do want to encourage wildlife (or at least the more desirable species of wildlife), there are a number of programs already in place that do this. Both the Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation have publications and online outlines that address how to develop your backyard into a certified wildlife habitat. I live on an island in Puget Sound and the entire island - some 12 miles long and around 5 miles wide and home to some 25,000 residents - is a certified community wildlife habitat, one of only 39 in the US.

Great article in the Washington Post. Some tiny inaccuracies but who is keeping track. The firm Oehme, van Sweden & Associates was mentioned because they advocated early on the concept of a no-mow lawn. Seems like growers and members of the "green industry" would favor and promote this kind of design, after all, a lot of plants can be packed into those small spaces en lieu of turf.

In general, it does not look good to me. It looks scraggly, scruffy and without a compelling artistic statement/theme. I can grasp the politic motivation behind it, but visually, it is not enough to make me want it. It is like beautiful Norwegian women with hairy legs and armpits.

I like them, but it seems like you would need paths winding through everywhere to be able to weed and access different areas. I've been thinking about how to create something like this on my 0.8acre lot but planning, planting, seeding and weeding all feels like a monumental undertaking. As far as winter, I imagine youd let it all die down for the winter and leave it until the spring. Then clean it out in early spring, throw the debris in the compost heap and mulch with last years compost. Thats what Tallamy says he does in one of his books. He has pictures of his garden during the winter in his book The Living Landscape.

Just want to also add, all the properties and parks surrounding me are brimming with invasives like stilt grass, mile-a-minute vine, barberry, japanese knotweed, japanese honeysuckle, reed canary grass, asian shrub honey suckle, burning bush, and many more. The concept of "all native" is a bit of an anachronism.

I mostly wont plant most non-natives, but acheiving the property you've pictured is going to be a stretch for most people. It would involve site remediation and ongoing weed management for many places. I think many people dont want to deal with their yard as is, and the landscape maintenance and design industries would need a complete paradigm shift to service this type of planting.

Sam_md, looks like a saddleback caterpillar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddleback_caterpillar

McCormick Spice headquarters near Baltimore. I'll take this over a conventional mowed lawn any day. Can someone give me an ID please?