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Lawn vs. Native Plants Cost Calculator
🌿 Native Plants  vs  Traditional Lawn

What is your lawn really costing you?

A traditional lawn and a bed of annual flowers cost money every single year — mowing, watering, fertilizer, weed & pest control, and re-buying flowers that die each fall. Native plants are a one-time cost that come back year after year. Adjust the numbers below to see your savings.

Tell us about your yard

Slide to match your space. Everything updates instantly.

Area you'll convert to natives500 sq ft
The patch of lawn you'll replace. A 10×11 ft bed = 110 sq ft — a perfect first project. You can always expand later.
How big is your whole lawn?optional
1 acre = 43,560 sq ft. You don't have to convert it all — even a small bed makes a real difference.
Annual flower bed40 sq ft
Beds you replant with annuals (pansies, petunias…) every year.
Years to compare10 yrs
Native planting style
Plants ship small in 3″ pots and grow to fill the space over a season or two. “Spaced” gives them room to knit together as they mature; “Full” uses the 54‑plants‑per‑110‑sq‑ft density so the bed fills in faster.
Native shrubs or trees1
Larger natives that fill big areas over time ($60–$69 each by pack size). Each one offsets ~6 perennials.
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Your comparison

Total cost over 10 years

🏡 Traditional lawn
$0
$0 / year, every year
🌼 Native plants
$0
one-time, then ~$0
$0
saved by going native
—
break-even point

Cumulative cost over time

The lawn keeps charging you year after year. Native plants pay for themselves, then save.

Traditional lawn (running total) Native plants (running total) Break-even

And it's not just money

Every year you keep a traditional lawn, here's roughly what it takes.

💧
0
gallons of water used per year
⏱️
0
hours of mowing & care per year
🧪
$0
on fertilizer, weed & bug control per year

Same price tag. Very different value.

A real example from the garden center shelf:

🥀 Annuals (non-native)
$13.33 / plant
3 pansies for $39.98 at the big-box store
  • Die every year — you re-buy them each spring
  • Bred for showy blooms pollinators can't feed on
  • Need rich soil & steady water (you're "paying for dirt")
  • 5-year cost: ~$67 per plant (replaced each year)
🌻 Native perennials
$6.59–$12.67 / plant
$12.67 in the 3-pack single plant set down to just $6.59 in the 27-pack starter kit — the more you plant, the less each one costs
  • Come back free every year for 5+ years
  • Feed bees, butterflies & birds
  • Thrive in your existing soil — little to no water once established
  • 5-year cost: ~$1.30–$2.50 per plant, per year — and dropping
  • 💸Native plants cost about the same as annuals up front — but they return each year, so they actually cost less by year 2.
  • 🌿Natives are low-maintenance: less water, no chemicals, easy care once they're established.
  • 🐝Most annuals are non-native species bred for showy blooms that pollinators can't use for food — which impacts all of us.
Adjust the assumptions ▾

Defaults are reasonable U.S. averages. Costs vary by region — tweak anything to match your area.

Mowing

Watering

Lawn chemicals

Annual flowers

Native perennials — collection pricing ($/plant)

Native shrubs / trees ($ each)

Shipping & establishment

This calculator is an estimate to help homeowners compare costs — actual figures vary by region, plant choice, water rates, and yard conditions. Native plant pricing reflects Garden for Wildlife current pricing: $12.67/plant in the 3-plant collection down to $6.59/plant in the 27-plant collection (the calculator finds the cheapest mix of collections for the number of plants you need); native shrubs/trees $60–$69 each depending on pack size; free shipping for orders over $99+. Once established, native plants need little to no supplemental water, fertilizer, or chemicals.