IF NOT A LAWN, THEN WHAT?

Suppose you decide you don’t want to get a into the lawn rat race.

There are several alternatives to grass, some—like paving the front yard with cement and painting it green—less appealing than others. The first that comes to mind is:

GROUND COVER

The old standbys—ivy,pachysandra, periwinkle, juniper, etc.—are useful, especially in shady or steep spots where grass won’t grow. But here’s what you have to do to establish them: the soil must be cultivated “deeper than for bedding plants” (Wise Garden Encyclopedia).

The plants (which are not cheap) must be individually planted, say eight inches apart, and then watered and hand-weeded until they spread to fill the spaces in between; this will take at least a year, probably longer. (You really learn to appreciate the tenacity of grass when it becomes a weed in a juniper bed.)

It’s a daunting prospect for any but the smallest yard. And you can’t ever walk on the plants—not that you’d want to.

Ground covers are useful plants in their place, but one should be wary of any catalogue that promises that a ground cover will grow vigorously in any kind of soil, in sun or in shade, with no assistance from the gardener There is another word for a plant like that: weed.

Cass Peterson, in The New York Times, November 29, 1992

If there is an ideal non-grass ground cover, I’ve yet to hear of it. A recent article in Organic Gardening by Lan Rombough lists “34 NON-GRASS GROUND COVERS!” some of which can allegedly be walked upon; a promising number that quickly disappoints. How on earth did lamb’s ears, with two-foot-tall flower stalks, get on this list? Or yarrow, with stems so tough they can be used as stakes? Why would anyone want to walk on strawberries, raspberries or cranberries?

Dichondra is also on OG’s list of alternative ground covers: a drought-hardy “low-growing plant with round, slightly cupped leaves … surprisingly uniform and it needs less mowing than grass.” On the down side, it’s only hardy to zone 8, which leaves most of us out in the cold dichondra-wise. And “it looks strange,” and: “I learned the hard way not to go barefoot in it; parasol-shaped leaves hide insects and slugs.”

[English ivy] may be a fine plant for large parks, but it is a Trojan horse in a garden. . . . It seems delicate at first, almost frail, but this belief in the innocence of ivy is a cruel delusion. It is entirely tenacious of life, once it gets up steam. Most gardeners I know who plant it eventually regret the decision as they spend weeks ripping it out, often suffering prolonged, painful tendonitis and neuralgia from trying to dislodge the roots from their subterranean havens.
Allen Lacy Gardening with Groundcovers and Vines

Chamomile is often recommended as a walk-on grass substi- tute, and not just by Organic re Gardening; in England there’s a long tradition of camomile (the Brits spell it without the “h”) lawns, and a charming novel of that name by Mary Wesley. OG offers one caveat: “this is not a good choice for the ragweed allergic; such people could have a reaction to this ragweed relative as well.” Chamomild e tea is s o soporific, I would worry that a lawn of the stuff wou send everyone off to dreamland, like the poppy field in The Wizard of Oz.