Illinois Native Groundcover/lawn replacement suggestions?

Watch Reply
More
Mark unread Print Skip to new
CreepingJenny Chicago, IL May 20, 2013

Hi! I live in Chicago, and we rent a lovely property with a terrible lawn. It's a rare thing to have a lawn at all in the city, and I'd like to fill in the scratchy, poke-y old turf grass with some native ground covers, but I'm having a hard time finding low-growing perennial ground cover that is native to the midwest. The creepier the better, as I'm fine with it choking out the grass and it'll be mowed regularly so it probably won't get in to the veggie beds. I was thinking something like a creeping thyme, or creeping jenny, violets, clovers, sedums... But none of these are native. Any suggestions from the more experienced?

Ideal options would be:

low-growing
withstands some foot traffic
grows in poor soil
covers rapidly
available in seed
not too pricey (it's only a rental after all)
sun and/or shade shade tolerant
drought and winter hardy/self seeding

Tell me what to plant! Invasive native species are fine by me, I want it to take over the spotty, awful, crunchy old grass eventually.

Post #9527133
Quote
themoonhowl Prairieville, LA(Zone 9a) May 20, 2013

Here is some general and specific info for you...hope this helps

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/groundcovers/tips.cfm

http://www.stepables.com/

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/groundcovers/directory/index.cfm

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/lawnchallenge/lesson2a.html

This lists all native plant recommendations for Illinois

http://www.wildflower.org/collections/collection.php?start=0&collection=IL&pagecount=10&pagecount=50

Post #9527183
Quote

Post a Reply to this Thread

Please or sign up to post.
Back to Forum Homepage

More Beginner Gardening Threads

Go to all Beginner Gardening threads
BACK TO TOP