Do you know what I realized a few days ago? I pretty much already have a clover lawn. Well, at least I think I do. I had never really paid much attention to it, because every time I look at our yard, all I see is weeds. All of my life, I’ve thought that lawns are grass. Only grass. So when I see something other than grass, my mind thinks “weeds.”
I’ve been thinking about non-grass lawns quite a bit lately since someone sent me this Instagram reel with a woman showing a different kind of ground cover. The one she shows is a succulent, and I think it’s one that thrives in California. I don’t know that it would do well here in central Texas. But it did get me thinking more about non-grass groundcovers. And then this past Tuesday, after the mowers got through mowing, edging, and cleaning up, I was actually pretty amazed at how pretty our front yard looked!
Since the day we moved into our house, we’ve never done anything to our yard. We have no landscaping, no grass, no sprinkler system. And yet, I noticed this week after the mowers left (we have our “weeds” mowed every two weeks 😀 ) that our yard actually looked really pretty! And while I don’t know much about plants, I’m pretty sure what we have is a clover lawn. Sure, there’s some grass mixed in there, but it’s at least 85% clover (or whatever this non-grass plant is).
Here’s a look at the front and side yard.
(Yes, I have a missing shutter. 🙂 It came off in a storm with crazy high winds, and I haven’t put it back up yet.)
The areas in the foreground where it looks really sparse are the areas where the gas company spent two months digging massive holes in our front yard to run new gas pipes all down our street and to each house. But even with that disturbance, it started to fill in pretty quickly. The most impressive thing is that whatever this is seems to grow beautifully in the sun and in the shade. Our huge oak tree pretty much shades our entire front yard with the exception of a couple of hours in the morning, and yet you can see how well this is growing all under the canopy of the tree.
Since I know virtually nothing about plants, I don’t know for sure that this is clover, but here’s a close up view of it. Maybe some of you can verify for me exactly what this is.
I know that micro clover lawns are becoming more popular these days since they take less maintenance and far less water than grass lawns. And while I’m quite certain that what we have is not micro clover, I can tell you that other than being mowed once every two weeks, this is a totally no maintenance yard. In the back yard, you can see that it covers everything, from the areas that get the brightest sun to the areas that stay shaded pretty much all day long.
Even the back part of our back yard beyond the tree row is covered in it and stays pretty green all on its own.
So I can’t help but wonder what this could and would look like if I put just a small bit of effort into it, like overseeding the front yard with some micro clover seed.
I’ll admit that after thinking of this groundcover as nothing but “weeds” for so long, it’s a bit of a challenge to change that mindset and see it as anything else. But after searching for and looking at some clover lawn inspiration online, I think I could make that transition. I do think this micro clover lawn is very pretty.
If you’ve given up your grass lawn for another low maintenance ground cover, I’d love to know what you think! Are you glad you went that direction? Do you miss your grass? And if any of you specifically (and intentionally) have a clover or micro clover lawn, I’d love to know how that’s going. How is the maintenance on it compared to a grass lawn? Do you have to reseed it regularly? Does it stay green and thick, or is it a constant battle to continually cover bare spots?
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
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