@eeldip

I actually have some Fleur de Lawn planted in the side yard, and highly recommend it, but its best for lower traffic areas. The kids will be running around and playing soccer on this lawn, so it needs to stand up to abuse.

I will have to try and post some pictures of my sisters Earth Turf, it really just looks like a normal lawn until you get close enough to see the little microclovers.

i am pretty interested in this microclover stuff. i would love to just get a pound of it and spread it on my existing lawn after low mowing and topping with some soil...

as for the earth turf equivalent from sunmark, i would try EC dry. looks like just about the same mix, but at 2 fiddy a pound- as opposed to 8 bucks a pound from earth turf!

For those of you who have tried these mixes--do any of them look enough like "lawn" to satisfy homeowner associations? They sound so much better than the fescue/perennial rye mixtures from a water-use standpoint.

Earth Turf has some pics here.

Also looked at The Wildflower Farm's eco-lawn, but its just all fescue and will be brown in the summer and has to be continually overseeded. An all perennial rye lawn would probably out perform an all fescue lawn in the pacific northwest anyways.

@eeldip Yeah, its probably $20 more expensive than theirs for my size yard, but I don't want generic white clover because it grows so tall! Plus, we're paying a landscaper $500 to take out the old lawn, add new topsoil and bring it to grade - so the seed cost is pretty nill by then.

totally with you on the microclover. seems like the perfect solution.

as for HOAs approving of those mixes, i would say YES, as long as you mow it. the grass will dominate the profile, especially from a distance.

however, your neighbors will think your lawn looks strange and will ask you if you need to borrow a bottle of weed n' feed.

I have Fleur De Lawn and Erosion Control (same thing without the flowers). The slugs ate all the flowers. I have to water a lot because with 300+ swamp trees, their roots are expanding everywhere.

The grass / clover / yarrow / creeping buttercup / miniature ivies / birds trefoil etc all mixed together is very beautiful and like a big fluffy chia pet. Very green and lush. Never been mowed. Doesn't need it.

Although the neighbors / passerby are totally freaked about it -- always asking when I'm going to mow the lawn, staring in disbelief. I'm across from a now-closed-down elementary school but everybody walks their dogs there. The older men especially stop at the gate and every day ask about the 'lawn' even though I tell them the story every day. Have to put up an official description. It looks like a natural lush meadow. In fact somebody turned me into Code Enforcement but since it isn't all grass or over 6" high, it's fine.

Ppl cannot seem to comprehend a yard that isn't mowed with a few plants in barkdust.

Anyway I'm very happy with my jungle, national certified wildlife habitat, and boy does it attract the critters.

Be prepared for a perplexed populace that can't come to grips with your property.

cascadians,

I couldn't agree more about the plants and barkdust.

I might try the microclover blend. The neighborhood lawn police probably will hate that enough--they wouldn't be able to stand something even more natural looking.

someday i gotta drive by cascadians place. i still can't wrap my head around the 300 trees.

Yep, it's getting quite wild in here. Knock on the door and I'll take you for a tour :-) In summer it's wonderful, so many leaves everywhere, a jungle of green. Winter is bleak but the evergreens are growing. Eventually the skeletons of the deciduous will also be massive and interesting. Lots of birds.

17 giant sequoias and they are doing very well. Read that they really like Portland. Lots of other evergreens, but they're slower.

The grass / mix of groundcovers is very beautiful. Eventually it will all be miniature ivies. I seriously thought of moss but don't have time to keep leaves off it. Have a blower/vacuum and just bought a shop vac, have rakes, but sheer volume, could never keep the moss clean enough.

The rain last night was so luscious and welcome. These trees LOVE rain!

For those thinking of alternative "lawns," the Fleur De Lawn or ecolawn disappears in winter, at least in my yard. I don't want any brown or mud so that is a drawback. But the miniatures ivies will completely cover everything in a few years, whew.

The BEST thing I did beside planting lots of trees, lots of variety, was put down large flagstone paths everywhere I have to walk. The mud was unbearable and dangerous. Now I can run around the yard even in the pitch black middle of the night moving sprinklers and it's safe and easy.

Fleur de Lawn is not meant for high traffic so if you don't have pets or children, use flagstones or stepping stones or something durable for your walking paths.

Pets or children: Don't plant Fleur de Lawn.

Earth turf says these are the grasses mixed in with the microclover for the "overseed" mix: The turfgrasses in all Earth Turf mixes have high drought tolerance, exceptional appearance, and fast establishment times.

They include patented varieties of creeping red fescue, hard fescue, sheep’s fescue, chewings fescue, dwarf perennial ryegrass and smooth stalked meadow grass. The creeping red fescues in Earth Turf Shade does particularly well in lesser light conditions.