Native Ground Covers - Part 2
In the last post I listed some of the herbaceous and small woody native plants that I have been using as ground covers. Sometimes you want that grassy look. There are a number of options for low maintenance grasses as alternatives to the Non-Native Kentucky Blue Grass and Perennial Ryes commonly used in residential lawn grasses. One option to the conventional lawn is the use of fine fescue grasses. These have a silkier appearance and tend to be a lighter shade of green than KBG. Two commercially available seed mixes based on blends of fine fescue grasses are ‘No-Mow’ Mix from Prairie Nursery and Eco-Lawn from Wildflower Farm . These mixes contain a blend of creeping and clumping fescues, some of which are native to North America, which will tolerate a range moisture and light of conditions. Lawns of these grasses are reported to require very little mowing (1-4 times/year), little additional water and no fertilization. Another option ...