Property News · December 4, 2016

Gardens: lawns without grass


Four glorious ground-covering alternatives that will give you a floral carpetWith our increasingly frenetic lifestyles and shrinking plot sizes, lush, grassy lawns (and all the space and maintenance they entail) can be impractical. Yet before you deck or pave over your patch, consider the array of stunningly beautiful mow-free grass alternatives out there with superior tolerance to drought, shade and saturated soils. These can offer greater wildlife value and, frankly, be more visually interesting, too. Here are some of my favourite alternative “lawns” for miniature urban spots.For drought tolerance: sedums (various species) Tiny succulent rosettes create an undulating carpet of emerald green with flowers from April to October in jewel-like shades of white, pink and yellow. Perfect if you have a postage-stamp lawn – and you will never, ever need to mow. Sedums soldier on in poor soils even in the harshest droughts. You can now buy mats of mixed sedum species – ready to lay like rolls of turf – that will reputedly survive up to four scorching weeks with zero water. The foliage in some species can turn bright red in the colder months, adding winter interest, too. They require fierce drainage so are great for sandy soils or gravely beds on exposed sites. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
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