How to Design Lawn Replacement

Consider planting a native garden to replace having a lawn. If you are really interested in going 'green' native gardens are considered the coolest new trend in landscape design. They are colorful, easy maintenance, fascinating to watch grow, and helpful to wildlife.

If you want the convenience of a lawn for a play or a sports area, consider using artificial lawn instead of real grass.

There's more than one kind of grass. Grasses are coming into their own. Try planting an ornamental grass garden that will add color, texture and motion to your garden landscape. It will need little care and can be tailored to your soil and water supply.

Minimal maintenance is another preference for so many home owners who just don't have the time to fuss over a lawn. Using non-living materials like colorful gravel, fancy paving stones or decomposed granite can create an almost no-maintenance lawn replacement.

Then there's the ground cover or 'steppables' concept. The idea here is to replace your lawn with a low-growing plant that is well suited to your climate and can take some minor foot-traffic. You can design 'steppables' with all one kind of ground cover plant, make a free-form patchwork quilt layout or create a carefully rendered design. Clover, thyme, vinca or alyssum are some of the many plants you can use for a lawn replacement.