Service · Land use

Lawn removal & native meadow.

Replace your St. Augustine with a low-mow native Texas meadow. Less water. No pesticides. Same usable space. Real habitat.

Buffalo grass · sideoats · sedges · pollinator forbs 70-80% less water

Lawn is the biggest pollinator desert in the Hill Country. It's also the biggest line item on your summer water bill.

St. Augustine lawn uses 36-45 inches of water annually to look green in July. San Antonio gets 32. The math doesn't work — which is why SAWS calls Stage 2 drought restrictions every other summer.

Native meadow does it differently. Buffalo grass needs 8 inches of irrigation a year in addition to natural rainfall. Sideoats grama and little bluestem need zero supplemental water after establishment. Add native sedges (Cedar sedge, Texas sedge), some structural forbs (Gregg's mistflower, frostweed, salvia), and you have something that looks better than a lawn, costs 80% less to maintain, and feeds 200 species of pollinators.

§ 1 · How we convert

From lawn to meadow.

Lawn conversion is a year-long process if you do it right. We don't sod-cut and replant — that's the conventional contractor approach and it costs 3x more. Instead, we kill the lawn organically, build the soil, and seed/plug the meadow in the right season.

By month 6 it looks like a meadow. By month 12 it's established. By year 3 it's stable. From there it just gets better.

§ 2 · What's included

Full conversion.

Included
Sheet mulch install
Cardboard + 4" compost + 2" mulch. Kills lawn over 60 days. Builds soil while it does.
Included
Soil program
Compost top-dress, biochar in planting zones, weekly KNF inputs for 8 weeks.
Included
Native plug planting
Buffalo grass, sideoats grama, little bluestem, native sedges. Density to taste.
Included
Pollinator forb install
Salvia, Gregg's mistflower, frostweed, salvia clusters. Year-round bloom sequence.
Included
Year-1 stewardship
Optional. Monthly visits to water, weed, and correct. The make-or-break year.
Included
Pathway design (optional)
If you want walking paths through the meadow. DG, flagstone, or mulched.
§ 3 · Pricing

Honest pricing.

Lawn conversion costs by square footage and density. Most clients phase: front yard year 1, back yard year 2. Sheet mulching is the cheapest of the three approaches; sod-cutting is the most expensive (and we don't recommend it).

Small zone
$3,000-$8,000
500-1,500 ft² · sheet mulch + plant + year-1 maintenance
Half property
$8,000-$15,000
1,500-3,500 ft² · full conversion + structural forbs + pathways
Whole property
$15,000-$25,000+
3,500+ ft² · multi-zone · estate-scale · multi-year stewardship
§ 4 · Why convert

Lawn is expensive.

A typical St. Augustine lawn in Bexar County costs $1,200-$2,500 a year to maintain: water bill, mowing, fertilizer, weed-and-feed, pest treatments, periodic resodding of dead patches. Compound that over 20 years and it's $30,000-$50,000.

A native meadow after year 1 costs $200-$400 a year: a single mowing or burn in late winter, maybe a compost top-dress, occasional plug fills. Same 20 years: $6,000.

You save the difference. You stop participating in the chemical maintenance loop. You get a property that supports 200 species of pollinators instead of one species of grass. And it looks better.

§ 5 · Cross-links

Read more.

Tool
Native Planting Estimator
Free calc — your sq ft → plant count + species palette.
Tool
Habitat Health Score
Score your habitat before + after. Watch it climb.
Service
Native Landscape Design
Beyond meadow — full ecological design across the property.
§ 6 · FAQ

Common questions.

What grasses replace St. Augustine in a native meadow?
Buffalo grass (Bouteloua dactyloides) for sunny low-traffic areas — soft, low-mow, drought-deep. Sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula, Texas state grass) for structural matrix. Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) for taller meadow zones. Cedar sedge (Carex planostachys) for shaded transitions. None of them need synthetic fertilizer. All of them survive Hill Country drought.
Will I still have walkable space?
Yes. We design walking zones into the meadow — usually decomposed granite paths, flagstone stepping zones, or mulched walkways. Buffalo grass tolerates light foot traffic well, so you can also leave informal walking lanes in shorter-mow buffalo zones. You don't lose usable space; you gain it (the meadow is more interesting to be in than a lawn).
How long does conversion take?
Sheet mulch kills the existing lawn in 60 days. Soil building runs concurrently. Plug planting goes in at the right season (spring or fall ideally — not summer). Visible meadow by month 6, established by month 12, stable by year 3. Compare to conventional lawn install: 30 days to a green-looking lawn, 8-15 years before it needs full replacement.
What about mowing?
A native meadow gets one cut per year — typically late February or early March, before the new growth starts. That's it. Some clients add a midsummer trim along walking paths. Buffalo grass zones can be mowed monthly if you want a more lawn-like look, but 4-week intervals are plenty.
Do native meadows look weedy?
Not when they're designed right. The visual difference between a designed native meadow and a weedy lot is structure — clear edges, intentional clusters of structural forbs (salvia, mistflower, frostweed), defined walking paths. We design for that intentional look. By year 2 even your most lawn-aesthetic neighbor stops asking when you're going to fix the yard.
How much does lawn-to-meadow conversion cost in San Antonio?
A small zone (500-1,500 ft²) runs $3,000-$8,000 including sheet mulch, soil work, planting, and year-1 stewardship. Half-property conversion (1,500-3,500 ft²): $8,000-$15,000. Whole property estate-scale: $15,000-$25,000+. Most clients phase it across 2-3 years, doing the front yard first.
Start here

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Site Read + lawn assessment + conversion plan + plant palette. Written summary in 48 hrs. From $299.

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