Knowledgebase

Clover lawn #829058

Asked May 08, 2023, 6:07 PM EDT

Will a clover lawn do well on the Oregon Coast, specifically in Lincoln City?

Lincoln County Oregon

Expert Response

Here is some information from Brian Macdonald OSU Extension turf expert:

According to Oregon State University Emeritus Professor Tom Cook, the person who developed ecolawns: “Clover, by itself, is not persistent enough to provide a functional lawn for more than a few years without regular overseeding. It is more drought tolerant than grass, but still needs to be irrigated.” Also, clover should be mowed to look its best as a lawn cover and can tolerate normal wear.

Based on my search, Envirolawn is an ecolawn mix. The mix is very similar to the mix developed by Cook but it uses hard fescue instead of perennial ryegrass.

There is nothing wrong with hard fescue except it takes a long time to germinate. I would add some (4 pounds seed per 1,000 square feet) perennial ryegrass to the mix to give time for the hard fescue to germinate.

There are a couple of key things to understand about an ecolawn mix:

First, the limited growth and mowing in the summer is based on the amount of water you give it. You need to use yarrow as your indicator plant of when to water. When yarrow starts to wilt, you need to water your ecolawn. When you do water, water it thoroughly. Ideally, you will only have to water monthly during the summer, but that is only a guide. Your mileage may vary based on soil and shade conditions. How often you need to mow will be based on how much you water. If you overwater it, you will have to mow it more often. But ecolawns are designed to be mowed, just less often.

Secondly: Other things to realize are that the flowers that come with the mix will not persist over time. And if you get other weeds that encroach, you cannot use herbicides to remove them because they will kill the clover. And if the weeds produce flowers during the summer, they will extend past the ecolawn because of the infrequent mowing so it may ruin the appearance - if you care about those things.

Another problem we sometimes see is that the size of seeds in these mixes is so different that they often do not get seeded very uniformly. The clover and yarrow are important to get seeded evenly because they create the foundation. The clover provides the nitrogen and the yarrow is the most drought-tolerant plant and provides the green in the summer. If possible, seed these plants individually. The grass seed is large enough so is pretty easy to seed uniformly. Between clover only and an ecolawn mix, my recommendation is to use an ecolawn mix.

You can use the Envirolawn mix or another mix from ProTime Lawn Seed in Portland or Nichols Garden Nursery.

Fleur de lawn is the mix Cook developed (he didn’t name it that) and we do not get a commission. I am only pointing out other mixes that are available. You can also buy the individual seed yourself and create your own mix. You may be able to find the seed online. The key ingredients are micro clover, yarrow, perennial ryegrass and hard fescue. The other plants are just fillers for aesthetic purposes and will likely not persist with the possible exception of the English lawn daisy. 

Here is another article from Oregon State Extension about ecolawns that might be helpful - https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/techniques/ecolawn-less-work-water

Bill Hutmacher Replied May 09, 2023, 6:00 PM EDT

Loading ...