alternative lawns

*live { May 27, 2010 } by krista (2 Comments)

When we ripped up our back yard we knew that we wanted to replace it with something low-maintenance and with less environmental impact than a yard. We thought of doing something that felt a little more natural and woodsy away from the house, trees (maybe birch) and rocks and some low ground-covers. But we also knew that we did want a green grassy area to lay on.  So I began doing some research into lawn alternatives.

Both of these are pics of the Fluer de Lawn. I wasn’t able to find any good pics of the Envirolawn.

The first two seem like a very similar mix and may both be based on the research of Tom Cook at Oregon State University. Know Thy Food has a link to his research here. Envirolawn is a mix of hard fescue, strawberry clover, white yarrow, baby blue eyes, white alyssum, and english daisy.  While Fluer de Lawn blends Dwarf Perennial Ryegrass, O’Connor’s Strawberry Clover, Sweet Alyssum, Dwarf Yarrow, Wild English Daisy, and Baby Blue Eyes. Both of them are drought tolerant once established and they have clover and other small flowering plants that are beneficial to the soil (clover, is actually good for your lawn – it fixes nitrogen levels in the soil). They do not require all the fertilization and massive care that a normal lawn does. Since the mixes were developed and tested here in the Northwest I know that they would be great for our locale.

I think I also read somewhere that good portion of the campus at Oregon State University is covered with this lawn alternative. Since I taught in the Design program at OSU for a couple of years, I had many opportunities to walk across and lay in this grass. I had no idea at the time that it was a lawn alternative. I remember noticing more clover than traditional yards but it was always green and looked good.

The two drawbacks on these mixes for me were: 1) flowers, while the blend is pretty, and I can see it really working in some lawns, it’s not the look we are going for.  And 2) you do still have to mow (though much less frequently).

The second option was called Ecolawn and it was developed in Canada by Wildflower farms. Ecolawn is a mix of several different kind of fescues. The glass blades are thinner and rounder than traditional grass and it has a deeper root structure making it drought-tolerant after established (1-2 years). It also supposedly produces its own herbicide making it more weed-resistance. (The installation instructions still say that you must rid your soil of weeds before spreading the seed). The coolest thing is, the grass just kind of flops over at about 4-6 inches, meaning, if you like that meadow look (I do!) you don’t have to mow it. If you prefer a more traditional look, you can still mow it, but you could get away with doing it much less frequently. With all the positive claims for this grass, I’m a little skeptical. Is it too good to be true?

Above are pics from the Wildflower farms website of their customers’ yards.

I called Wildflower Farms to ask them a few questions, i.e. will it be okay here in Portland with all the rain? Yes, but the cold winter temperatures mean it will go dormant, which means it will be a dull green in the winter. I can live with that!
I also wondered just how slow growing, I mean – don’t you ever have to mow it? Even though it’s flopped over will it just spread sideways forever? The woman who answered my questions says she has it in her yard and never mows it.
Reviews also say that it is not good for high-traffic areas. We want to be able to sit and hang out on it. The woman also assured me that this was fine, it’s no sport turf but it does fine with normal traffic.

Image source: Materia Designs. I’m not sure if this is picture above is an Ecolawn, but it does look like a blend of fescues.

The lawn takes 7-10 days to germinate and we should have a lawn in 4-6 weeks. It will take 1-2 years to fully establish.
Even though I’m a bit skeptical. I’m also an optimist. Plus I was charmed by all the great pictures of people’s Ecolawns. So I ordered. And it’s here. So if it stops raining here in Portland we will extract all our weeds, lay our organic compost, and start seeding! I’m the guinea pig and I’ll be sure to tell you if it lives up to our expectations. Wish us luck.

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