Gardening: Alternative groundcovers are easier to care for than lawns

Tired of the work and water that your lawn takes to maintain? Want to be more environmentally conscious with the space you now dedicate to a lawn? Then trade in your monoculture grass for something more environmentally friendly, water wise and that takes less work and resources to maintain. Replace lawns with ground covers and pollinator friendly plants.

Low growing ground cover plants can be used to completely replace lawns. They typically grow only a few inches high and most need little or no mowing. Examples are creeping veronica, creeping jenny, creeping thyme, ajuga, sedums, clovers and microclover. All these suggestions will form low growing mats that are drought tolerant once established. Most of them can tolerate moderate foot traffic and ajuga and creeping Jenny are shade tolerant. Several of them, like creeping Jenny and ajuga come with yellow or variegated leaves which adds to their interest. Creeping thyme forms a very low, dense gray-green mat in sunny areas. Sedums like hens and chicks, Angelina and stonecrops are the ultimate drought tolerance ground covers and need to be watered only during very hot weather. Many of them come in colors not found in other plants.

Lastly are clover and microclover. White Dutch clover once considered a lawn weed makes a very good ground cover that stays green through the heat and, because it’s a legume, fixes nitrogen in the soil which cuts down on fertilizer applications. It can handle moderate foot traffic, is drought tolerant and needs only occasional mowing. Its white flowers are popular with pollinators. Microclover is similar but finer leafed, very low growing and doesn’t produce flowers which means no bees to walk on barefoot. It can take light foot traffic but doesn’t do well in shade.

Both clovers take more attention to detail to plant and establish. Weeds must be controlled before planting because clover is susceptible to herbicide damage. Plant in the spring for the best germination and be patient as it will take a while to fill in. While you are waiting for it to fill in, hand pull any weeds that pop up. Once established it will crowd out most weeds.

In reality, Dutch clover is better planted with grasses such as turf-type fescues as the grass adds durability under foot traffic and winter conditions when the clover goes completely dormant. Fescue grasses are equally drought tolerant to the clover and have the same mowing requirements as the clover.

An even better idea than just planting a grass and clover lawn is to add other low growing plants to the mix and create a bee lawn that is even more attractive to local pollinators. Low growing plants like yarrow, common selfheal and creeping thyme are often added to bee lawn seed mixes. Having multiple species in the mix means there will be more flowering throughout the growing season. Having multiple species also makes the seed mix more flexible to shade and sun conditions. These lawns can be mowed occasionally or left to grow without cutting.