Meadows have a lot to offer:

 

Cost Savings

Meadows save money!  Below is a cost comparison for contracted services for the care of lawns vs. meadows.  Meadows only need a fraction of the care required by traditional lawns and gardens.  In this example, converting to meadow could save you $3000 per year for a 14,000 square foot lawn.

Estimates adapted from Zimmerman, C. Urban & Suburban Meadows. Matrix Media Press. Silver Spring, 2010. p. 22.

Estimates adapted from Zimmerman, C. Urban & Suburban Meadows. Matrix Media Press. Silver Spring, 2010. p. 22.

Besides cost savings, meadows also provide:

  • Beauty

    • Color, structure, texture

    • Seasonal changes

    • Calming & mindfulness

  • Bio-diversity / Habitat

    • Pollinators

    • Birds, mammals, reptiles

    • Native plants

  • Time

    • Mow once yearly

    • No watering or fertilizer

    • Limited weeding

  • Watershed improvement

    • Stormwater runoff reduction

    • Erosion prevention

    • Chesapeake Bay protection

  • Soil improvement

    • Organic matter addition

    • Soil microorganisms

    • Compaction relief