Say goodbye to weekly mowing duties with these eco-friendly grass alternatives.
Imagine a Saturday that doesn’t start with a sigh: It’s time to
mow the lawn.
When other, more fulfilling garden projects beckon, it’s easy to
begrudge the time spent on the tedious and noisy task of mowing—not to
mention edging, feeding, and watering. Surely, there must be some
alternative to grass.
Yet even those who object to lawns from a maintenance or
environmental standpoint concede
that lawns can contribute to the beauty of a landscape. “I understand
what design purpose a lawn serves. It’s a cool, simple panel that allows
your eye to rest. It doesn’t have the cacophony of a perennial border,
and so I get what that does, but at what expense to the environment?”
asks John Greenlee, author of
The American Meadow Garden.
Perhaps it’s time to expand our definition of
lawn to
include other low-growing plants that carpet the ground, yet require
less maintenance than turfgrasses. Options like sedges, moss, and clover
thrive without fertilizers, require less water than grass, and rarely
or never need to be mowed. A few grasses, including Korean velvet grass
(shown at left) and buffalograss, develop an attractive character when
left untouched by the lawn mower. These ground-blanketing plants can’t
replace playground turf, but after all, most of the lawn’s real estate
is for show, not recreation.
Sedges
With grasslike leaves borne in clumps, perennial sedges (
Carex
spp.) capture the soothing comfort of unbroken lawn. Leave them unmowed
to let the breeze tickle their foliage. Or maintain a more formal look
with just a few mows a year.
There are many narrow-bladed grass alternatives in the genus
Carex.
Some thrive in sun; others seek shade. Varying in height and texture,
there are sedges for dry or boggy spots, clay or sandy soils, and all
USDA Plant Hardiness Zones. “There are so many of what I call these
‘groundcover grasses’ that can make a cool, green, ecologically sound
panel for you to walk upon or just to look at,” Greenlee says. Because
of the abundance of choices, it’s a good idea to seek the advice of
local extension agents or native-plant experts for help in selecting a
regionally appropriate sedge.
When landscape architect James David of David Peese Design lost most
of his monkey grass in the Texas drought of 2009, he switched to
C. retroflexa var.
texensis (also called
C. texensis).
“I think it’s one of the great shade sedges of all time. I would tend
to use it in dry shade as it is so drought-tolerant,” he says.
This clumping, evergreen sedge grows in sun to part shade from Texas
to the eastern seaboard, in Zones 5 to 9. It’s drought-tolerant, but it
may require extra moisture during extended dry weather. It has slender
6-inch-high foliage and spreads by seeds.
Greenlee applauds
C. praegracilis, a sun lover that creeps
from rhizomes. Tolerant of soil and weather conditions throughout the
United States (except Texas and the Deep South), it withstands boggy
spots as well as seasonally dry soil. Regional clones vary in height
from under a foot to a more meadowy 3 feet.
Mow a sedge lawn in spring to remove any winter burn. “Mow it then,
and let it have fresh space to flush back out,” says Andrea
DeLong-Amaya, director of horticulture at the Lady Bird Johnson
Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. After sedges flower, allow their
seeds to scatter and fill the gaps between clumps. Sedge lawns stand up
well to light foot traffic.
Glorify sedges with seasonal bulbs. “I have naturalized rain lilies,
and they bloom through it,” David says of his sedge lawn. “Then, as soon
as it rains, the lilies come out. It’s a beautiful bonus. And don’t
forget bulbs like
Ipheion, small jonquils, and species tulips that just disappear in summer.”
Moss
In moist, shady gardens with acidic soil, moss makes few demands.“It’s
something that requires very little attention unless you just want to
look at it all day long,” says Nancy Church, director of business
development for Moss Acres, an online moss supplier.
Once established in moist climates, moss rarely needs watering. It
attaches to the ground with rhizoids, not roots, getting its nutrition
and moisture from the air. “As a nonvascular plant, it gets what it
needs in a shady environment from the moisture that comes from the
boundary layer of the soil, from rain, dew, and even from fog,” Church
says. Moss lawns need no fertilizer.
Moss grows best on compacted soil, even clay, in a pH range of 5.5 to
6.5. Going dormant under snow or in dry summers, moss rebounds quickly.
“But do not water it in the heat. If it’s necessary, we recommend
watering either in the morning or in late evening when it’s cooler,”
Church says.
For shady lawns, Church recommends
Hypnum, often called sheet moss, or
Thuidium,
referred to as fern moss. Both have low profiles that dismiss the lawn
mower. Until their energetic stems and spores form a dense mat, weed by
hand. Moss is easily smothered, so keep the surface swept clean of
fallen leaves. Add woodland wildflowers and naturalizing bulbs for a
garden in the lawn.
Moss tolerates occasional footsteps. But because moss doesn’t have
roots, rambunctious digging dogs would tend to calamity. In areas of
frequent foot traffic, provide stepping-stone pathways.
Clover
Instead of fighting clover in the lawn, give it top billing. White Dutch clover (
Trifolium repens)
is on the rebound as a perennial lawn alternative that’s tough as nails
in sun to part shade. Like other legumes, it takes nitrogen from the
air and stockpiles it in root nodules, so it fertilizes itself.
“It can grow in bad soils and in a wide pH range. It prefers a 6.0 to
7.0 pH, but clover will grow down to a 5.0,” says Troy Hake, president
of
Outsidepride.com, an online
garden and landscape supplier. White Dutch clover’s range extends
nationwide, but Hake reports that it’s best adapted in Zones 5 to 8; in
colder zones, it may not survive winter. In hotter zones, he recommends
planting in areas that receive partial shade.
Spreading horizontally, clover needs just an occasional mow if a
lower profile than its average 6 inches is preferred. Its white flowers
attract bees—another bonus, unless someone in the family is allergic to
stings. In that case, simply mow off the flowers.
Microclover, a small-leaved clover developed for interplanting with
turfgrasses, produces smaller flowers that aren’t as attractive to bees.
Hake likes it because it does not encroach aggressively on flowerbeds.
“It’s shorter and finer-bladed than white Dutch. At a distance, it
almost looks like grass,” he says.
Clover is evergreen down to single-digit temperatures. A spring mow
removes winter burn and stimulates new growth. “Clover doesn’t have
really deep roots, but they’re hardy. Even if you get some top kill,
it’s going to come back from the root zone,” says Hake. Although it
appreciates supplemental water in dry summers, clover isn’t a thirsty
consumer.
It withstands occasional strolls across its surface, but Hake
advises, “If you have big dogs that walk on the same path every day,
it’s going to wear a trail just as it would in lawn grass.” He adds:
“It’s not as soft as grass, but you can walk barefoot on it.”
Getting Started
When transitioning from a turf lawn to another type of groundcover,
start with a clean slate. Rent a sod cutter and slice off the existing
lawn, leaving as much topsoil in place as possible. In small areas, a
spade may be sufficient for removing the sod. Compost the chunks of sod
or use them to fill low spots in the landscape. Till to loosen the soil
(except when planting moss, which prefers compacted ground). Just before
planting, till again or hoe lightly to remove any weeds that have
sprouted.
Sedges: Plant plugs in spring or fall (or winter in
the warmest climates), or sow seeds in spring. Water regularly until the
plants are established. A topdressing of compost or mulch between the
plugs will help maintain soil moisture and control weeds.
Moss: Plant in spring after the last frost,
preferably after trees leaf out. Press chunks of moss firmly onto the
surface of moistened soil. Lightly water the moss daily for at least 3
weeks. Depending on the growing conditions and the spacing of moss
chunks, the moss lawn may take a year or more to fill in. In the
meantime, keep bare spots weeded.
Clover: Sow seeds in spring when nighttime temperatures are consistently over 40°F. Keep moist until germination.
If renovating the entire lawn seems daunting, take it in
stages. After all, the most successful gardener tackles one bed at a
time, getting into the rhythm of new plants before launching the next
escapade. Wean your landscape off the mower and get ready to start
Saturday with a smile.
5 More Lawn Alternatives
Creeping thyme (
Thymus spp.). In
well-drained soil in sun to part shade, creeping thyme brings flowers to
the lawn in Zones 4 to 9. Select low-growing varieties of
Thymus serpyllum like ‘Elfin’, which can be snipped for use in the kitchen. Spice it up with lemon thyme (
T. citriodorus) or fuzzy gray woolly thyme (
T. pseudolanuginosus), a nonculinary species. Provide walkways to avoid constant crushing, though a bit of bruising adds a sensory bonus.
Frogfruit (
Phyla nodiflora). “Frogfruit is
robust; it’s not delicate at all,” says Andrea DeLong-Amaya, director of
horticulture at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. “I love it
because it grows in sun or shade. Any conditions where you would
normally grow grass would be perfect.”
From Oregon to the southern United States, in Zones 8 to 11, this
perennial in the verbena family works fast to cover ground in a thick
mat 4 to 6 inches tall. Summer and fall flowers attract butterflies and
bees. “It roots at the nodes, so it takes foot traffic pretty well,” she
says. Frogfruit goes dormant in freezing weather.
Stonecrop (
Sedum spp.). The genus
Sedum
includes many creeping species, some ultrahardy and others tender. With
their small, succulent leaves, they prosper on sun-scorched slopes and
in other forbiddingly arid locations. Many are showy in bloom, bearing
sprays of tiny star-shaped flowers.
S. spurium ‘Dragon’s
Blood’, for example, flaunts rosy-pink flowers on 4-inch stems over a
mat of bronze leaves. Sedums of all types root easily from stem
cuttings. Unfortunately, the brittle stems and fleshy leaves don’t hold
up well to footsteps.
Buffalograss (
Buchloe dactyloides) and
blue grama (
Bouteloua gracilis).
Although grasses, these two prairie natives don’t make the same
maintenance demands as traditional turfgrasses. For the hot, dry,
Central Plains states, Troy Hake from
Outsidepride.com
describes buffalograss as the “lazy man’s grass.” It requires minimal
water, no fertilizer, and only occasional mowing. In fact, leaving it
tall with just a few mows a year helps fend off weeds.
Hake and DeLong-Amaya recommend mixing buffalograss with blue grama.
“Buffalograss tends not to be very dense,” says DeLong-Amaya. “It likes
to grow with other grasses for a denser, more resilient turf.”
Silver ponyfoot (
Dichondra argentea).
Native to Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, silver ponyfoot is hardy to
25°F. Given good drainage, decent soil, and sun to part shade, it
quickly takes over. “It’s just so beautiful! Silver is such a great
contrast to other plants or to hardscapes,” says DeLong-Amaya.
“Texturally, it works well with other plants. It fills in quickly, since
it spreads by runners.” Place stepping-stones where needed.
