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Covering Covering Ground
Ground
By Joan Ziegler & MaraLee Olson
Any vigorous low-growing plant that
stabilizes the soil and can be easily
grown in mass can be used as a ground
cover. Those that can do this include
a wide variety of fl owers, grasses, and
shrubs. Though this topic is undergoing
considerable amount of scrutiny in
this age of “green,” lawns do have an
appropriate place in our cultural and
physical landscape, and are just one
of many ways to cover ground. Lawns,
which were once a privilege of European
aristocracy, a symbol of status and
wealth, and affordable only to those with
groundskeepers (until the Industrial
Revolution and the advent of the
lawnmower), are now the standard way
to cover ground. When the fi rst American
suburbs were built, lawns, like the home,
award-winning
landscape architects, site planners
garden designers
Designing
distinctive outdoor spaces
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www.zdainc.com 608.831.5098
were tied to the American Dream, and
many Americans became able to afford
a house, as well as a beautiful lawn.
This trend has continued, and now a
majority of suburban, rural, and even
urban dwellers go through painstaking
measures to water, weed, fertilize, roll,
aerate, and mow these green carpets of
grass when other ground covers might
be easier to maintain and are more
sustainable.
Perhaps, 60 years later, now is the
time to question our original premise,
and ask ourselves why we spend so
much energy maintaining lawn as the
standard vegetation for covering ground.
Is lawn really a low-maintenance
landscape feature, especially when you
add up the time and money devoted
to its maintenance, and consider the
environmental costs of fuel, water
consumption, and pollution from
fertilizer and pesticide runoff? Can we
limit our use of lawns by integrating
them with other groundcovers and
landscape features, and still provide the
functionality we desire, and increase the
quality of experiences we want in our
landscapes?
Consider your lawn a space, just as you
would a patio, deck, path, or other area
designed for foot traffi c and gathering,
and strategically place it in your
landscape for the purpose of walking,
gathering, or playing. In doing this, you
can decrease the amount of lawn you
need to maintain, and strengthen your
other landscape features such as rain
gardens, vegetable gardens, woodland
plantings, and structures that often fi nd
themselves lost in a sea of lawn. In terms
of selecting appropriate species, there
are viable alternatives to “Kentucky
Blues” that complement lawns and
lessen the maintenance of areas where
lawns cannot grow. When walkability is
not a requirement for a particular part
of your landscape, there are a variety
of low-growing ground covers that can
protect soil, infi ltrate water, and provide
a calming visual effect to the ground
layer. If we stop struggling to grow
grass where shade is plenty or water is
limited, and choose ground covers that
prefer these conditions, we can limit our
use of water and herbicides.
Having talked with numerous gardeners
and homeowners, consensus is that in
the shade, groundcovers are easier to
maintain, and look better than grass.
The sun is a different story. There are
numerous grasses and fl owers that
will outperform weeds and limit the
need for water and pesticides, but look
quite different than the quiet green
carpet that lawns often provide. The
“New American” style garden with large
sweeps of Black-eyed Susan and Sedum
Autumn Joy backed by tall clump
grasses is a perfect example. These
plantings require annual maintenance,
weeding, and mulching, but compared
with fertilizer, mowing, and watering,
the time invested in maintenance may
actually be less than maintaining lawns.
Striking as these larger ground covers
are, they are not suitable for high traffi c
areas or where a visually quiet open
space is desired. However, these gardens
can be used as a border around a patio
or at the edge of the landscape. Another
alternative is a short-grass meadow
such as a no-mow fescue, which can
be combined with self-seeding annuals
and woody ornamentals.
Whether you are looking for a simple
span of green or an ever-changing
array of color, there are many ground
cover alternatives to lawn that, once
established, can signifi cantly reduce the
amount of time and energy you spend
on maintenance.
Joan W. Ziegler is a horticulturist and
garden designer, and MaraLee Olson
is a registered landscape architect and
associate for ZDA, Inc., Landscape
Architecture, 4797 Capitol View Road,
Middleton. Call (608) 831-5098 or visit
zdainc.com. Photographs submitted by
ZDA, Inc.
Joan’s Favorite
Groundcovers
PERENNIALS FOR SUN
Day Lilies (Hemerocallis)
Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla)
Cranes Bill (Geranium)
‘Dropmore’ Catmint (Nepeta)
Sedum (Sedum)
Switchgrass (Panicum)
Prairie Dropseed Grass
(Sporobolous)
Lamb’s Ear (Stachys)
‘Magic Carpet’ Thyme (Thymus)
PERENNIALS FOR SHADE
‘Black Scallop’ Bugleweed
(Ajuga reptans)
‘Pumila’ False Spirea
(Astilbe chinensis)
Yellow Barrenwort
(Epimedium sulfurium)
Sweet Woodruff
(Galium oderatum)
Biokovo Cranes Bill
(Geranium x cantabrigiense)
Hosta (Hosta)
Spurge (Pachysandra)
Lungwort (Pulmonaria)
Periwinkle (Vinca)
WOODY ORNAMENTALS
Dwarf Grey Dogwood
(Cornus racemosa)
Dwarf Bushhoneysuckle
(Dierville lonicera)
Juniper (Juniperus procumbens)
‘Gro-Low Sumac’ (Rhus aromatica)
Carefree Shrub Roses (Rosa)
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