The Traditional Lawn needs to go! Here’s what to try instead.
By: Kevin Jinn
Tags: Environment, Ecology, Horticulture, Gardening, Landscaping

With the global movement towards Environmental Sustainability, homeowners are looking to do their part for a greener, less harmful, and less costly lawn. Native grasses are naturally growing grasses that have existed in the environment before settlement, and offer a unique solution to this problem. They are different from the traditional turf grasses that have been imported into the country, require constant irrigation, chemical fertilizers, and herbicide treatment to thrive in our climate here in British Columbia. Our native grasses, having survived naturally for thousands of years, can grow quite happily on their own, without the high maintenance costs of a traditional lawn. Though at first appearance they may seem boring, the landscaping world has recently come to embrace these underrated plants.

Graminoids include true grasses, sedges and rushes. For the most part, these are all grass-like in appearance, but there are several differences. True grasses have ‘knees’ that are joint like nodes around a hollow stem. Sedges are triangular and solid in cross section. Rushes have a rounded cross section and a solid stem. All three of these can be useful plants to solve problems that landscapers have been having in their green spaces.

California oatgrass is a drought tolerant native bunchgrass with deep roots that can penetrate up to 4 feet into soil.

The key to these plants is their ability to flourish in traditionally difficult garden settings where other plants struggle. Leading landscape designers and landscape architects are using these plants in formerly infertile spots such as the spaces between tree roots, or inhospitable spots such as wet, shady areas where lawns have traditionally done poorly. Forested gardens can be planted with sedges that work in dry shade. Wet, soggy conditions that most garden perennials would sulk in are well suited for rushes or other water loving native grasses. Furthermore, many are deer resistant, and don’t need spraying with chemicals. These are all great assets to the Environmental Sustainability movement.

Restoration meadow at Haliburton Farm, BC 2014.

Even modern ideas such as mulching are being challenged by our native grasses. Say goodbye to yards of mulch required for garden beds every year. Green mulches have become practices pioneered by landscape architects such as Thomas Rainer and John Greenlee, who replace mulch with grasses for a meadow garden effect. Brown mulch, often bark chips or partially composted bark material, needs to be reapplied every year as erosion and runoff deplete it seasonally. With living mulch, sedges or bunchgrasses are planted around the landscape plants once, and that is it. The increased number of plants helps provide habitat for critters, songbirds consume seed heads from bunchgrasses, and the deep roots prevent erosion. As an added bonus, many grasses are host plants for butterfly species and their young.

On top of costly lawn inputs such as chemical sprays, mowing and watering, homeowners now have to deal with Chafer beetle damage to lawns when birds and raccoons dig them up looking for larvae. One way to avoid these pitfalls is to try native lawn alternatives. The roots of traditional turf grasses are very shallow, making these spaces very attractive for overwintering European Chafer beetles. Deep rooting native grasses naturally control erosion better, and are unattractive for Chafer beetles.

“The beauty of sedges is that they work so well with almost any type of planting.”

Red Fescue ‘Molate’ can be grown as a native lawn.

Commercially available native grasses can now be purchased in the Lower Mainland. Our native Festuca rubra var. rubra Red fescue is similar to the Eurasian Chewing Fescue Festuca rubra var. commutata. It is more adapted for this climate, and can be mowed short for a traditional lawn look, or kept longer for an ‘unmowed’ bunchgrass appearance. It can be kept lush and green with regular watering, or left to brown out in summer, from whence will come back in spring.

Native grass Meadow at Haliburton Farm, BC 2014.

Shady sites have always been problem areas for lawns, as most turf grasses require well-drained, moist soil and full sun. When a lawn area with shady conditions is forced, homeowners end up with moss. There are native grasses that thrive such as perennial rush Luzula multiflora, Common Woodrush, that will thrive in dry shade of woodlands and Carex deweyana, Dewey’s sedge, that excels in moist shady forests.

Native grass wetland Restoration at Haliburton Farm, BC 2014.

Sedges have come into the spotlight as a natural look to the traditional lawn. There are low growing sedges such as Carex pansa (up to 12 inches) that only needs mowing once a season. These and other natives are water-wise, as they survive only on natural rainfall in our climate. As a lawn alternative, sedge plantings have several benefits over turf: They require little in the sense of irrigation, chemical fertilizers or herbicides, and are chafer beetle resistant.

The beauty of sedges is that they work so well with almost any type of planting. As a filler plant, they create the fabric that highlights the showier focal plants in the landscape. However, their solid edges also offer them a bolder texture than most turf grasses. The dull appearance of sedges works because they don’t distract the eye when mixed with other species. Rather, they complement and enhance the showier species when grown together. Sedges and bulbs can work as a grassland meadow. Sedges planted with native ferns create a woodland feel. Native succulent plantings with sedges can also work as a dry rock garden, and sedges with roses maintain a cottage garden feel.

Sun sedge and Common Woodrush fill in spaces around native perennial and annual flowering plants.

Sedges truly are a fresh take on traditional gardens. There are enough monocultures of English Ivy and other overused ground cover plantings covering our outdoor spaces. Instead, take the time to grow and nurture native sedges. You will be rewarded with increased biodiversity, easy care landscapes and a natural beauty that will stand out amongst your neighbours.

Native grasses can stitch together a tapestry of plants to create a beautiful picture in the natural landscape. They can also support small ecologies and provide real habitat for wildlife. Whether homeowners will accept the naturalistic look of our native grasses and give up their lawn fixation is uncertain, but there is great upside to a native sedge meadow alternative.

Ground covers and living mulches should be planted in numbers. The initial investment should have enough sedge plugs or containers to fill the area, but also give enough space for the plants to spread out as they mature. Think about mature sizes of all the plants 2 or 3 years later when planning. This green mulching can effectively replace traditional brown mulch as a much more economical and environmentally friendly alternative.

Native Grasses for Shady Gardens

Carex deweyana — Dewey’s Sedge

Carex obnupta (wetter) — Slough Sedge

Luzula multiflora (dry) — Common Woodrush

Melica subulata — Alaska Oniongrass

Festuca occidentalis — Western Fescue

Elymus glaucus — Blue Wildrye

Native Grasses for Sunny Places

Festuca roemeri (dry) — Roemer’s Fescue

Danthonia californica (dry) — California Oatgrass

Koeleria macrantha (dry) — Junegrass

Carex inops ssp. inops (dry) — Sun Sedge

Juncus ensifolius (moist/wet) — Dagger-leaf Rush

Deschampsia cespitosa (moist) — Tufted Hairgrass

Carex kelloggii (moist/wet) — Kellog’s Sedge

Carex lyngbyei (moist/wet) — Lyngbye’s Sedge

Eriophorum angustifolium (wet) — Cottongrass

Scirpus microcarpus (wet) — Smallfruit Bulrush

Achnatherum lemmonii — Lemmon’s Needlegrass

Bromus vulgaris — Columbia Brome

Bromus carinatus — California Brome

Lawn Grasses

Festuca rubra var. rubra — Red Fescue

Festuca occidentalis — Western Fescue

Festuca roemeri — Roemer’s Fescue

Carex pansa — Sand Dune Sedge

Bromus carinatus — California Brome

Seed heads of Deschampsia cespitosa, Tufted Hairgrass

Nurseries in British Columbia that sell native grasses for the Lower Mainland Gardener:

Saanich Native Plants. Saanich, BC (Retail)

Fraser’s Thimble Farms. Salt Spring Island, BC (Retail)

BC Wild Heritage. Sardis, BC (Wholesale and Retail)

Nat’s Nursery. Langley, BC (Wholesale Only)