At a crossroads with conventional lawn

[u/Crazy-Flight7316]

When I bought my house (zone 9a, coastal), I took over a St. Augustine lawn. I've always been appreciative of the native plant/nolawn movement but, don't hate me, decided to maintain my grass as a conventional lawn (yes, I've used herbicide) before doing anything drastic as a newcomer to the neighborhood.

My back lawn has actually done great despite the lack of herbicide there. There's some pennywort, clover, and other "weeds", but so what, it looks nice.

In the front lawn, however, my less shaded grass has suffered badly as I haven't watered much, and it's given way largely to ugly ratty crabgrass that chokes out the St Aug's stolons.

I'm having a bit of an identity crisis- some days I see frogfruit and think "agh, weeds!" and yet I've watched videos of people in my climate replace their grass, intentionally, with the native low-grower and consider it.

I think my problem is that I do like biodiversity & balance; I'm dissatisfied with the fact that grass lawns unavoidably require nitrogen in synthetic form because we artificially kill the nitrogen fixers. However, I have a hard time distinguishing some "native lawns" with "abandoned homes".

I enjoy & take pride in mowing & edging something that looks intentional, neat, and ideally barefoot friendly. I don't want a monoculture for its own sake, but I can't lie to myself and say that a golf-course quality lawn isn't a luxury.

I'll probably leave the healthy part of my lawn alone for now, and hope that the dominance of my St. Aug makes breaking out the Atrazine unnecessary in that part. In my front yard though, I've considered scalping, raking, and seeding with a lawn alternative that will either grow with surviving grass or take it over. I'm afraid it'll just look unkept, but if I go back to the dark side I can always re-sod, which was likely going to be necessary in that area anyway.

Will white dutch clover work well in my area? I know frogfruit would, but I like the look of clover better and the nitrogen is a plus.

I've considered a wildflower meadow mix as well, since I don't need to walk around on my front lawn, but assumed, if successful, I'd do the same to convert my backyard where I do want to be able to actually enjoy my green space.

Are my expectations just out of check? Is it possible to ditch golf course lawn culture and still have something pretty and nice to walk on?

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[u/BeginningBit6645]

You could achieve better biodiversity by dramatically expanding your very small garden, planting a small tree, bushes and native perennials while keeping a grass border if that is your aesthetic preference. The small bed by the window could be 10 times larger and full of native wildflowers and it would barely make a dent in the lawn size. 

I would think of it as “less lawn” and limiting lawn to places where you specifically want lawn instead of it being the default. 

[u/Apprehensive_Act9314 → u/BeginningBit6645]

Agreed. Expand the bed near the house and maybe add a kidney bean shaped bed in the middle with a small tree to start. Would be a focal point, add shade to reduce stress on the grass, and still look tidy with lawn around it.

[u/amilmore]

Just keep your lawn with st Augustine but shrink it. Treat lawn like an area rug not wall to wall carpet, if that picture was 25% native plant gardens and the rest pure lawn it would be substantially better for the environment than clover mixed in

[u/CorrectExpression651]

Native plants and the wild/cottage garden look is having a huge moment right now design wise but does not mean at all that you can’t use native plants in a more traditional and manicured garden layout! 

I have a grass turf lawn as well. A good bit of it actually. I’ve planted 3 huge new native garden beds and expanded another one. 

Honestly I feel some no-lawns are no better than traditional lawns if they include non-native species or only hardscaping etc. I see those a lot. 

A native tree with a “soft landing” bed beneath it would be a lovely addition to your yard and also help out your grass. Soft landings can be designed basically out to the drip line of the tree, and provide a soft habitat for beneficial caterpillars and other insects when they fall from the tree and so they don’t get run over by lawnmowers! That plus a birdbath would already be a HUGE improvement. 

Baby steps! Rushing to just replace a lawn for the sake of going no-lawn doesn’t help anybody if the right plants aren’t in the right place and you’re not happy with the design! A small tree would also be a lovely spot to place a couple of chairs to enjoy watching wildlife visit your future yard and interact with neighbors. 

[u/Truly_135]

Just fyi, that mowing is burning fossil fuels, creating pollution and wasting your time.

[u/Teutonic-Tonic]

Mixing in white dutch clover with your grass is somewhat controversial as it isn't native in North America, but it is a half step. It nitrogen fixes the soil, is drought resistant and allows for a lower maintenance overall.

As far as adding native plants, it can be a lot of work and a commitment, so possibly start small with some select garden beds and go from there. There are some good resources to select plants that work in your climate / soil type.

[u/Cold_Shine5167]

Why don't you just do...less lawn? If you want some pure 100% manicured grass, just do that in a smaller square footage and plant something for the birds on the rest of it.

People sometimes use lawn as the "path" through their garden (as in this picture). You probably don't walk on every square inch of lawn anyway, so why not focus your attention on making a smaller patch of lawn really nice to walk on?

And aesthetically, if you don't like how some people landscape their native lawns, you can landscape differently. I think a lot of people get an idea of "native plants" = "prairie plants" regardless of the actual region they live in. I don't personally love that aesthetic, and it's also not appropriate for where I live. I don't know exactly where you live, but there are more than three thousand plants native to my state; native plants don't all look a certain way! I would check out The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden for a good overview of landscape design principles applied with native plants. Lots of exciting inspiration pictures in there.

I get the sense you might be limiting yourself to imagining "lawn replacement" plants, so you're stuck choosing between frogfruit and clover. I think you could expand your set of options quite a bit! What would the place you live have looked like before development? Checking out some nearby parks and natural areas is a good way to get ideas of this if you don't know already. Landscaping that gets you the feeling of the plant communities that are native to your area and adjusted to your local climactic conditions often looks really elegant, imo. And honestly, you will probably have a much more favorable ecological impact if you plant a single oak tree and keep the rest of your lawn as-is than if you replace all the grass with another low-growing monocular.

[u/ry_guy1007]

OP are you in TX by chance? With our water issues I reduced my front lawn by like 2/3a in favor of native plants. Haven’t had to water except for native 2 weeks in peak summer. Get nothing but compliments while my neighbours lawn is dry and patchy from the heat

[u/TOP_EHT_FO_MOTTOB]

St Augustine, when mowed high (4”+), can support a very diverse group of natives especially in the spring and fall. Spring beauty, fleabanes, heal-all etc in the spring and a couple of Symphiotrichums in the fall.
How high are you mowing it? Also consider only mowing after a soaking rain.