I moved into my current place a few years ago and I’ve been gradually shrinking my lawn and planting natives, but a chunk of my yard is going to remain as turf grass for the foreseeable future. Is there anything I can do to make that area more ecologically useful? Would overseeding with clover be beneficial, and if so, which species? Are there any ground covers native to the upper Midwest (specifically Michigan) that can handle being mown short and also walked on fairly often?
Hey there! Friendly reminder to include the following information for the benefit of all r/NoLawns members:
If your question is about white clover or clover lawns, checkout our Ground Covers Wiki page, and FAQ above! Clover is discussed here quite a bit.
If you are in North America, check out these links to learn about native wild flowers! - Wild Ones Garden Designs - NWF's Keystone Plants by Ecoregion - HGNP Container Gardening with Keystones
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viola soria, viola striata, antennaria neglecta
Love these! 💚 Thank you for the Genus species names. 🙌 Learning more of these everyday! Viola sororia (Common Violet), Viola striata (Cream Violet), Antennaria neglecta (Prairie Pussytoes) 💚
If part of your yard is a turf play area ... don't fret.
I see crows, magpies, robins and deer all in the park across the street. The birds are hunting grasshoppers and various insects. The deer are just eating the grass. It is not the lifeless area that some people claim it is.
Interestingly there are no native Trifolium species to Michigan. If your garden has mulch then a tiny bare patch of soil in that grass would be an ecological benefit. Lots of bees need bare soil to dig their nets in, and butterflies also get salts from the soil. I have seen Little Blue Stem get mowed down to 3 inch nubs and it still acts as a 'lawn'. Certain aster species respond well to continued cutting and will grow prostrate through the lawn.
Festuca saximontana, Achillea millefolium, Erigeron pulchellus to add a few more
Festuca saximontana, Achillea
Millefolium, Erigeron pulchellus
To add a few more
- chlorotic_hornwort
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I'm not familiar with native plants from your area, but I found these resources that seem pretty good:
https://rochesterpollinators.org/pages/educational-resources
https://rochestermi.org/DocumentCenter/View/4063/Native-Plant-Garden-Guide
Is wild strawberry (fragaria virginiana) native to Michigan? It's super tough and is low enough you can mow over it. Provides fruit for birds and mammals, flowers for pollinators, and is a larval host.
It is! I have some in my backyard, but for some reason I’ve never seen it flower or set fruit
The very best thing you could do is plant an oak tree. In the long run, it'll support hundreds of different species, and will probably be way more effective than some small patch of flowers. https://www.nwf.org/-/media/Documents/PDFs/Garden-for-Wildlife/Keystone-Plants/NWF-GFW-keystone-plant-list-ecoregion-8-eastern-temperate-forests.pdf
That’s a cool idea, but I don’t have a suitable site for one.