Not in the same climate as you, but we stopped cutting our grass all the time. We mow about 3-4 times a year. It's really more of a "harvest" than mowing at this point.

While the neighbors may not appreciate the shaggy meadow we cultivated, we now have lightning bugs at dusk in the summertime. The neighboring houses? Practically none. I can only imagine what will happen when we start replacing this stuff with local plants.