Rewilding movements such as “No Mow May” are seeing more Nova Scotians let their yards grow naturally, giving plants more opportunity to sequester carbon, store flood water, and bring back wildlife.

Gardening experts from both sides of the province agree that a combination of allowing wild growth, closely monitoring progress, and planting more native species can provide gardens and lawns with climate-friendly benefits such as cleaner air, mitigated storm risks, and boosted biodiversity.

Bridgewater resident Rosmarie Lohnes, founder and CEO of Helping Nature Heal, says rewilding a meadow in, say, a 250-square-metre yard, takes about three years. If residents plant mature native species, immature native species, and seedlings all at once, these three generations will go to seed and set rootlets each year — eventually becoming a self-sufficient garden.

“By year three, the mature plants might be waning, but the seedlings have started to bloom,” Lohnes says, noting previously mowed-down native species will also start growing back. “You have more success quickly if you plant in those three generations.”

Lohnes, an environmental professional certified by ECO Canada (Environmental Careers Org.), emphasizes maximizing plant diversity. For smaller yards, this may mean four different perennials, while larger areas could accommodate up to 20.

“If you have a bad bug come in and eat all of your plants, then your meadow is ruined the first year,” she says. “The diversity will help protect the longevity.”

Glynis Thomas, who leads Native Plant Gardening Nova Scotia and the Goutweed Support Group, on Facebook, is convinced she’s had just about every invasive plant in the province on her previously cultivated Cape Breton property before deciding to go “wild.”

Leaving uncultivated grassy patches to grow (and removing invasive species) has welcomed native species such as goldenrods, helping her use biodiversity to regain control of the yard she’s gardened in a more cultivated fashion for the last 30 years.

“You can have one single plant that will actually benefit, like, 250 different species,” she says.

In her Facebook network, Thomas sees rising demand for swamp milkweed, which attracts endangered monarch butterflies and other pollinators vital to a garden’s success. But the appropriate species for any yard, she says, depends on the land and the benefit to wildlife.

“You’re not just growing a single native plant,” Thomas says. “You’ve got to start looking at the whole ecology of what you’re doing. Do you have shade in your back garden? Do you have sun? Is it dry? Is it a hill? Is it wet?”

Lohnes encourages using layers of cardboard, manure, seaweed, or mulch, along with locally supplied organic fertilizers to revive soil. This is good for yards that have undergone substantial chemical usage, mowing, and compacting. The first year of rewilding is critical for increasing the soil’s airiness, sponginess, and water storage, she says.

To track rewilding, residents can take monthly photos or jot in calendars what species they notice for the first time. They can also count the birds and animals in their yard or monitor with a journal whether plants are setting seed. Patience is key — given the time it takes newly-planted native species to attract pollinators.

“If you take an ornamental shrub away and replace it with a native shrub like bayberry, you need to have at least a square metre of plants tightly planted together so that the pollinators can actually sense them and get information from the birds and butterflies to know that those plants even exist,” Lohnes says.

CLIMAtlantic, a federally funded climate services hub, supports having drought-tolerant garden plants, leafy trees that provide shade and cool temperatures, and a variety of plant species, sizes, and ages to boost wildfire resilience.

Thomas, also Cape Breton district director for the Nova Scotia Association of Garden Clubs, advises against “No Mow May,” which began in Europe to encourage dandelion growth for the European honeybee. Neither are native to North America, causing this movement to stimulate invasive species in Nova Scotia. It can be difficult to replace ground cover provided by grown-out lawns, but alternatively, she recommends wild strawberry plants.

“Take part of your lawn to do more native planting,” Thomas says. “Keep the rest of your lawn and mow it — maintain it properly as a lawn, so that you’re not letting invasive plants come up.”

For residents wanting truly natural native plant gardens, she recommends leaving a boundary and pathways around the target area to signal neighbours it’s an intentional rewilding project.

“If you’re going to let something go wild, then you need to be honestly curating it, honestly looking for wild plants to be in there,” Thomas says, pointing to native shrubs such as bayberry or non-invasive ornamentals such as rhododendrons.

Compared to ornamentals, however, Lohnes notes that native plants store more carbon and water, better tolerate drought, and need less food thanks to deeper soil connections.

“They’re much more resilient and adapt more easily to storms, heavy rains, and high winds,” she says. “Their berries, nuts, and fruits are really nutrition bonuses for the birds and other animals that live in the area, so that (in turn) helps those same animals become more resilient to climate change, heat waves, and fires.”

Native plants have co-evolved with their surroundings to rebound faster in climate disasters, Lohnes and Thomas agree. Goldenrod in flood plains can have deeper roots to survive, for example, and ferns sometimes sprout quickly from burned stumps and brush.

The town of Lunenburg is one community developing a rewilding policy to support residents planting more native species.

The Climate Story Network is an initiative of Climate Focus, a non-profit organization dedicated to covering stories about community-driven climate solutions.