Alternatives to Grass for Lawns
To lawn or not to lawn? That is the question! Mowing and watering season is upon us. Do you feel put upon every time you have to start up the lawn mower? Wouldn’t you rather use that time to do anything else! I for one would rather do just about anything besides mow the grassy lawn. We don’t water or fertilize our lawn so that eliminates some of the chore and by mid-summer what was green is a lovely taupe shade so requires less mowing time. Almost every year I look for ways to decrease the amount of grass I do have to mow. More and more lawn has gone into herb and vegetable beds or native plants. In the southwestern U.S, many people have replaced grass lawns or never had any to begin with. Granted they often use gravel, but here in the northwest most of us like our green lawn areas. Maybe we could take cues from our southwest neighbors though and try plants other than grass for our lawn landscaping.
Roman Chamomile makes a carpet behind one of our outbuildings, near the greenhouse and rain barrels. This is mostly gravel, with a bit of bark chips near the bottom of the picture. So this is a great groundcover plant that is not picky!