Guide to Choosing the Right Lawn

Low-water alternative lawns are the future. The savings in resources, both water and financial, that these lawns enable will play a fundamental role in the coming years, with advancing global warming and the increasing difficulty of having large quantities of water available for irrigation. This is therefore the right time to choose the best solution for your garden and, above all, begin the dry conversion, which is a lengthy process that takes several months.

However, not all alternative lawns are suitable for everyone. Every soil and every area has its own needs, and the availability of someone to look after it also makes a difference. For this reason, we have developed a guide designed for those who do not know where to start choosing the lawn best suited to their garden. However, it should be remembered that combinations of several types, rather than planting a single category of plants, can make the lawn much more resistant.

1. Choosing by height
2. Choosing by flower and foliage colour
3. Choosing by sun exposure
4. Lawns suitable for a coastal garden
5. Choosing the lawn by temperature

Choosing by height

Choosing a lawn based on the maximum height it can reach is useful for understanding the type of maintenance it needs. Lawns that do not grow beyond a few centimetres are those that need less mowing throughout the year, thus making maintenance much less demanding.

From the selection of low-water plants from BotanicalDryGarden with a maximum height of 5/10 centimetres, you can choose:

• Lippia nodiflora var. canescens lawn: this type of lawn does not exceed 5 centimetres, slightly more if you count the height of the flower, and the recommended mowing varies from 2 to 6 times a year.
• Frankenia laevis lawn: the shortest lawn in our botanical garden, it does not exceed 4 centimetres and for proper maintenance it only needs 2 to 4 mowings a year.
• Dymondia margaretae lawn: the maximum height of this lawn is also around 4-5 centimetres and for maintenance only 2 to 4 mowings a year are recommended.

Choosing by flower and foliage colour

It is not vanity, but true harmony between the beauties of nature. The choice of the right lawn must also consider the colours that will tint the garden. For this reason, it is important to choose not only based on personal tastes but also based on the type of landscape in which it will be placed: a hilly landscape, perhaps, may be better suited to a lawn with autumnal colours, while in a seaside or sun-kissed area, a lawn illuminated by bright colours is expected.

On our website, you can select the lawn based on the colour of the flower, of which there are many varieties: white, yellow, lilac and pink. But the colour of the foliage also makes a difference and determines the saturation and harmony of the whole. In addition to the classic bright green foliage typical of English lawns and which characterises plants such as Zoysia tenuifolia, Verbena hybrida, Lippia nodiflora and Cotula lineariloba, more unusual varieties exist. For example, there are many varieties with greyish foliage, slightly muted, which adapts easily to winter landscapes and leaves room for the vibrancy of its flowers to express itself.

Among the alternative lawns with grey or grey-green foliage are:

• Achillea crithmifolia lawn with evergreen grey foliage
• Dymondia margaretae lawn with silver-green foliage
• Lawn of Achillea tomentosa aurea BDG with grey-green foliage

Choosing by sun exposure

A fundamental aspect that should absolutely not be underestimated in choosing the right lawn for your needs is the sun exposure of your garden. It is therefore essential to choose the right plant for the amount of sun and shade that alternates on the ground that will host it, so as not to risk damaging it.

Most alternative lawns branded by BotanicalDryGarden are suitable for growing in full sun. However, there are some varieties suitable for partial shade, which allow you to have a lush garden even if it is not always illuminated by the sun. Among the varieties suitable for partial shade, you can choose:

• Frankenia laevis lawn
• Achillea tomentosa aurea ‘BDG’ lawn
• Arctotheca calendula lawn
• Erigeron karvinskianus lawn

All versatile plants suitable for both full sun and partial shade.

Lawns suitable for a coastal garden

Not all plants are salt-tolerant. When choosing a new lawn for planting, it is essential to consider this aspect as well, so as not to risk ruining the plants before they have had a chance to establish themselves. Among the BotanicalDryGarden lawns suitable for coastal gardens and therefore salt-tolerant, you can choose:

• Lippia nodiflora var. canescens lawn
• Zoysia tenuifolia lawn
• Frankenia laevis lawn
• Dymondia margaretae lawn
• Arctotheca calendula lawn
• Lippia nodiflora var. non canescens lawn

Choosing the lawn by temperature

Low-water lawns are, by their nature, extremely resistant to heat and drought, which allows them to bloom lushly even with very little irrigation throughout the year. But if high temperatures do not frighten these plants adapted to climate change, not all have good cold resistance or are suitable for mountain landscapes.

Among our alternatives, those most resistant to cold, provided it is for short periods, are:

• Achillea crithmifolia lawn which resists down to -7°C
• Achillea tomentosa aurea ‘BDG’ lawnwhich resists down to -7°C
• Frankenia laevis lawn which resists down to -10°C.