WHAT IF YOUR CITY PAID YOU TO USE LESS WATER?
Yeah, the “ugly phase” is real. I jumped on the rebate train last year, mostly because my water bill was getting out of hand and I figured, why not? But nobody really preps you for how rough your yard looks after you rip everything out. I remember standing there with a pile of dead grass and thinking, “Did I just make a huge mistake?” Mulch definitely helped, but it still looked like a construction site for a while.
I went with mostly native plants—partly because they were cheaper in the long run, but also because I didn’t want to deal with gravel everywhere (just feels too sterile to me). It took months before things started to fill in and look intentional. There were moments where I missed the instant green of a lawn, but honestly, now that it’s grown in, it feels way more alive than before. Plus, less mowing.
I do wish the city had offered some kind of design help or even just a checklist. Would’ve saved me a lot of second-guessing and random trips to the nursery. No regrets now, but it was definitely more work than the rebate brochure made it sound.