The butterfly flew from one lawn to the next looking for food, but all there was only grass with nothing else. Finally, she found some low growing flowering sedges. There were other butterflies as well as bees here, too, and a bit farther off, a child played fetch with a dog. Lawns are one of the most common sights and for a groundcover or a place to kick a ball around, they have their uses. However, most traditional turf grasses aren’t native to North America, are frequently invasive, and require a large amount of care. Nevertheless, there are a large number of native grasses which provide important habitat for a large variety of species, generally require less mowing and no fertilizer, and still be a place for people as well.

Grasses:

Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pennsylvania)

This grass reaches about 9 inches tall, requires well drained dry soil, and tolerates shade. It stops growing by early summer and generally only needs to be mowed once to twice a year to stay 4-5 inches. It is native to New York and Maine south to Virginia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, and west to Washington, California, and New Mexico.

Plantain sedge (Carex plantaginea)

This grass grows to 12 inches, needs moist soil, and shade to partial shade. It has bright green leaves and small yellow flowers in early spring. It is native to New Brunswick and southern Quebec to southern Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, Maryland, and northern Georgia.

Poverty oat grass (Danthonia spicata)

This grass reaches 8-16 inches and also only needs mowing once to twice a year. It is native to most of the United States and needs well drained or seasonally moist soils and full sun, though it will tolerate dry and nutrient poor soils. Flattened oat grass (Danthonia compressa) is native to the eastern U.S. and California oat grass (Danthonia Californica) is native west of the Rockies.

Groundcovers:

Common strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)

Strawberries grow 3 to 6 inches, have small white flowers in May and fruit in June. They are native throughout North America. After fruiting they send out runners, and so spread easily and are an excellent groundcover. They attract bees, butterflies, and birds (and, of course, people too!)

Moss phlox (Phlox subulata)

This flower grows 2 to 6 inches tall, needs well drained soil and has pink flowers from April to May. It is native to southern New York to southern Michigan and south to North Carolina and Tennessee.

“Traditional” lawns are essentially a monoculture and provide little in the way of biodiversity. Nevertheless, there are larger spaces where grasses and groundcovers are the best option for that particular area. For such places, native grasses and groundcovers can provide both food, nesting, and overwintering sites as well as a green place for people, pets, and pollinators.

As always, not using pesticides or fertilizers is also important in creating habitat for birds, bees, and butterflies. For other resources, go to plant finder on the National Wildlife Federation (www.nwf.org), put in your zip code and the site will provide a list of all plants native to your area. For my other articles on wildlife gardening, including plants for small spaces, shade tolerant plants, and food plants for both people and wildlife see April 2019, May 2020, May 2021, July 2022, June 2023, and June 2024.