Lawn Substitutes for under Pines and Oaks in California's
Coastal forests
These are plants that will cover the ground and require no
water after they have been established ( If they are planted in
or near the areas they are native). They don't mind the pine
needles or oak leaves that fall on them. And your native wildlife
can use them! They don't require the fertilize or soil
disturbance that will harm the Mature oaks
and pines
in the coastal forests.
Wild
California
strawberries (Frageria Californica) makes a beautiful
ground cover for under coastal forests. It also has the advantage
of having really delicious strawberries. It will grow great under
Coast live oak
trees or pines.
It is happiest near the coast where it will get more rainfall.
The
strawberries are a very deep red when ripe and are very rich. If
they get a little more sun the patch seems to be denser and there
are seems to be more strawberries produced. The Berries are
smaller and are held up in the air off the dirt and away from
bugs that might eat them.
Dichondera spp.
Dichondera
spp. makes a nice lawn substitute. Here it was growing under
Monterey pines
with Soap
Plant(Chlorogalum sp.) and Star
Lily (Zigadenus fremontii). As of now ( when this page
was written) we are having trouble growing this one, so we don't
have any in stock but hopefully that will change soon. This is a
really neat little plant and it makes a great lawn. Hopefully
will figure out it's little eccentricities.
Yarrow
(Achillea millefolium) makes a feathery lawn. Here it is
growing under a dense canopy of Monterey
Pine trees. It likes the pine needle litter that comes with
living under the pines and it has pretty white flowers that
attract butterflies. No more raking pine needles. No water
required and no fertilizer appreciated.
The feathery leaves of the Yarrow plant grow close to the
ground. When the plant flowers it send up tall flower clusters.
These can be chopped off or you can have a part time flower
garden part time lawn.
Yerba
Buena (Satureja
douglasii)
is a mint that you can make tea with. The fragrant leaves are
shiny and don't itch. That is always a nice quality if you are
thinking of taking an afternoon nap on your lawn. In the above
picture Yerba Buena is growing on a slope, climbing over fallen
branches of Monterey
pine and very deep leaf litter.
Sorry
for the really small, fuzzy picture. It is really old. (The
Yerba Buena is that green mat under the post.) Yerba Buena can
form a dense low ground cover. This is in our demonstration
garden under coast
live oaks near Santa margarita, without water.
For
more plants that can grow under oaks and pines see The shade
garden page
For
more on oak care see our Oak tree page
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