I've heard of people using creeping thyme as a lawn substitute. There is an article on how to do it at High Country Gardens that I'll link below. They say it's best for small areas. I think it only handles light traffic.

For mulch, we were really happy with a compost we got from a local tree and lawn care company. They chip/shred all the tree limbs they get and compost them with grass clippings and whatever other green waste they bring back from clients' homes. The resulting compost is softer than bark (you can walk on it barefoot), and it's sturdier than the compost I have made in my own pile -- it really sticks around a few seasons, rather than just turning into soil.

We also bought some "play bark" for our swingset area that is soft. It's not really bark but pine wood chips, I think, which is a soft wood. I don't know how they process it to make sure it's not sharp, but it's actually something that you can walk on barefoot, too (a little carefully), but the dogs would probably think it's great. Might be expensive for a long path, though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Creeping thyme lawn

Streambank or western wheatgrass are alternative turf grasses that require little or no water even in our climate. They're cool season grasses, so they'd be green longer than something line buffalograss, as well. They're both native to the area. Both are also rhizomatous.

Crested wheatgrass is an import from Siberia. Most varieties are bunch grasses, but some of the newer varieties are rhizomatous.

If you find seeding rates that give pounds per acre, convert to sq ft, but then double the number, because the per acre figure is probably for pasture seeding.

Steve,

Thanks for the suggestion on "cedar" mulch. I looked this up and it is by far the best as it compacts. Also the link below is an interesting fact sheet from CO extension on mulches. Thought others might like to read this too.

I also looked up some alternatives for seeding and am going to try a pound or two of options.

Last year I did pick up free mulch from the city when living in the mountains. It was okay, but a lot of mixed stuff in it and very black. I think they were doing a lot of shredding of burn area trees.

BPgreen,

I planted a buffalo lawn (plugs) from High Country. It took me forever to put those little things in the ground. While they did grow, it took forever and required a special mix of fertilizer. I eventually had to order seed to fill in. All this only to find that buffalo grass is not a good traffic lawn. One would think with it's name and being a prarie grass...the stuff would handle anything on it.

While I love High Country catalogs and have been to their nursery, am glad we are finally seeing their offerings locally. Locally it is less expensive, the plants are larger and I prefer seeing them in person. My front is xeriscaped with a small area of lawn. It is thriving and have about 20 different plantings. Love the ongoing color all summer with xeriscape.

Thanks for your responses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Colorado mulch

Emagineer, take a look at this posting from Fall of last year.

Achillea would require full sun, I'm quite sure, but the stuff really amazes me. However, you won't get any blooms unless you don't mow for a few months. I know that there are some seed mixes out there with achillea in it or you could plant it in various flower beds and allow it to go to seed as we did - I'd recommend the shorter varieties. (It is a bit invasive as you can imagine. ;o)

Dad also has a dog (border collie) and she has paths, religiously followed.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Achillea lawn - RMG

Steve...why am I on this thing? Lazy day of rain!

I saw that post and have been searching for Achilla seeds. They are a tad expensive. The mix they are talking about is my comment about weed seeds...more than I want. But the post you mention is what gave me the idea, along with seeding English Daisy.

There is a lot of Achilla/yarrow negatives due to it being invasive. But, I figure the dogs can invade it too and my yard isn't the emerald land of Oz. I'd rather have a prarie than bad grass.

Think I'll head to the nursery and seek out some seeds...have a coupon for 20% off.

Hi emagin,

I havent seen so much activity around here on one day for a long time! I think the reason is what you said, rain all along the front range! And youÂre getting dumped on too, SteveÂI didnÂt know there was weather up that way so I checked NOAA, and there sure enough is!

The last couple days IÂve been checking in to read quickly, but IÂve been holding off responding, because, since we were supposed to be getting rain, I wanted to be out making hay while the sun was shining! Now IÂm delighted to be sitting inside and watching the rain! ItÂs been intermittent and gentle. IÂve gotten about a half an inch so far, and radar shows more coming. I think my grass may have grown a foot overnight! Seriously itÂs not that tall, but it has TOTALLY greened up overnight, and I DO think I may need to cut it by the end of this week! March is TOO early to be cutting grass!!!

Yikes! Now IÂm WET! I saw a couple VERY hungry looking house finches out on my feeders and realized I forgot to fill them yesterdayÂwhen I was making hay! So I went out to fill them. It wasnÂt raining much at allÂbut I decided to quickly fill my BIG bucket with potting soil while I was out there so it could warm up in the house before using it, and while I was doing that, the rain picked up! So now IÂm sitting in front of my quartz heaterÂsteaming! IÂm all humidÂlike Illinois!

AnywayÂshe said thru the mistÂhave you ever considered turning most of your yard into "garden," emagin, or is it too big? A LONG time ago, when I was still married, we had friends in Park Hill who had done that with the back yard, and it was wonderful! It was a pretty small yard, and except for a small patch of KBG in the middle where you could sit if you wanted to, it was all WIDE, WIDE, curved beds all the way around, with some trees and bushes, and then all filled in with mostly perennialsÂand some vines on trellisesÂand some of everything! It was like being at a botanical garden in summer.

My house finches are back filling up their tummies with safflower and sunflower! It was worth getting wet!

If you decide to go with Achillea, you might want to consider interplanting it with woolly thyme to fill in all the little spaces between the yarrow. I think the two would compete pretty well. If youÂre willing to water thoroughly once every week or two, a combination of all the different creeping thymes could be REAL pretty. ThereÂs mother-of-thyme, T. praecox (pink); red mother-of-thyme (deep rose), T.p. ÂCoccineusÂ; white creeping, T.p. ÂAlbiflorusÂ; pink creeping, T.p. ÂPink ChintzÂ; lemon, T.p. ÂCreeping Lemon (thereÂs an upright lemon too), and more. The leaf colors can vary somewhat between the different varieties, and for the ones that bloom together, the different colored flowers would be pretty. ThereÂs also a miniature, T.p. ÂMinusÂ, with VERY tiny leaves and pink flowers, but that one spreads very slowly. Woolly is the most tolerant of foot traffic, and the most xeric, and has gray-green fuzzy leaves with lavender-pink flowers. ItÂs tought stuff once it gets going, and might even stand up on the dog path, but I donÂt know how youÂd ever be able to get it going very well with them on the path. And if you redirected them, by the time it got going, theyÂd be used to the Ânew" path and probably wouldnÂt want to use the old one anymore. LOL English daisies wouldnÂt tolerate foot traffic at all, though you could use them around the edgesÂbut they also tend to be pretty shortlived. I just got a packet of them this spring that IÂm going to stick in somewhere. I donÂt have any other suggestions for the dog path. The yarrow would probably hold up to the wear and tear tooÂif you could get it well established first (lease out your dogs for a year???)

If you decide to go with a rock-type thing, theyÂd probably be willing to walk on pea gravelÂbut that stuff goes all over! My neighbors have it in their kidÂs play area, and it comes thru and under our (privacy) fence and gets all in my flower beds. I was just out there this week caulking theÂnot very bigÂcracks between the boards with clear silicone caulk. Did that last year and it works pretty well, but some of the cracks have gotten bigger, and some of it came looseÂand I didnÂt get all the cracks. I think I got it pretty good this year. So if you put a path of pea gravel, IÂd expect it to be spreading all over along the edges of the pathÂespecially when theyÂre running.

On the yarrow invasiveness issue, at my last house it was growing in several places (in the grass) in my front yard, even though I didnÂt have any growing anywhere on my property, and, to the best of my knowledge, neither did any of my neighbors. Apparently birds and/or the wind carries the seed, and once itÂs started, it just keeps going, and going, and going.............. On the positive side, if you decide to go that way, this was in an area of mostly shade, and, while I donÂt think they would have ever bloomed, the foliage looked just fine. This was common yarrow, Achillea millefolium, which I assume is the one you all are talking about. I like the stuff a lot, but just donÂt want to get it started in my yard. I tried to get rid of it at the other house, and, even in the shade, was never able too. If youÂre looking for seed, IÂd check out WalMart and places like that. If they have what I want, I buy seed there. WalgreenÂs and Ace tooÂwith the 10 for a dollar coupon! You never know what youÂll find, but IÂve seen common yarrow seed at places like thatÂand you donÂt really care what color they are anyway. WM had a bunch of different seeds for 30 cents a pack, and even some for 10 cents. There arenÂt that many seed in a pack, but at 30 cents, if you buy 3 packs for a dollar, itÂs still cheaper than a $3 pack at a "fancy" store! You also might want to consider buying one or two 1-gallon plants this spring and growing your own seed this summer. Then youÂd have a constant supply of seed each year if you needed of fill in any areas later. (YouÂre not talking about acres, are you?) IÂm guessing that Achillea doesnÂt come true from seed, so the flowers from any of your seedlings would probably be pretty bland!

If you decide to use any of the thymes, I recommend getting a couple small plants of whichever ones you want as soon as you can and stick them in somewhere in an area with improved soil and water them fairly often, and, before long, youÂll be growing your own supply. As soon as the edges start to root, dig out some "plugs" and put them in another place, and by the time youÂve done that a couple times, youÂll have all you could ever possibly need. ItÂs like a pyramid scheme! You could plant them somewhere in the area you plan to eventually do, but the more you improve the soil for the "parent" plants, and keep them watered, the faster theyÂll take off.

ItÂs been a while since I started this! Did you go to the nursery?

Glad for the rain,
Skybird

Well, I made it to the pharmacy . . .

I was trying to remember why I called it "cherry" Achillea but I figured out what the parents were - - Cerise Queen (Achillea millefolium). And, as you say, Skybird, it probably matters not a whit what color the flowers are if you use it as a lawn.

Wild yarrow grows throughout our lodgepole & ponderosa forests and on out into open ground around here. Perhaps that was the origin of the yarrow in your lawn, Skybird. I'd stay away from the tall achillea Gold Plate and the other yellow flower types but I see that they are not millefolium but rather filipendulina. It's a rather "coarse" plant even tho' the bright color is stunning.

Interesting what you say about yarrow in the shade. Maybe I should try it here in my yard (work area). I have zero thyme experience for anything other than culinary thyme.

(Probably think of cerise as cherry-color. :o)

Steve

You are wonderful about posting. Am loving the responses and interest in what I'm up to. So...am going to take advantage and here are some pics. I just took them, so it is dark and of course very wet.

Jeesh, just re-read this...tis very long, but decided to post anyhow and see what you have to share. Sun is out and need to get off of this as am sure you may be doing the same to take advantage of the day outside.

My yard is about 60 X 60, it is very old and not taken care of for years prior to my moving here last year. The photo looks like it is much smaller, wrong lense. This isn't a formal yard design, it never will be as I'm the laid back artist who likes lots of color. Actually the yard looks awful (son is still finishing shed), but taking a chance here for you to see what I am dealing with. Tis called lots of work....but love it.

The first pic shows right side of yard, there is a large patio spanning the back of house (20X30) which you can't see..cause I am standing on it. Worked this week putting in a brick pathway from left side of house to the patio. The corners on either side of concrete path has new trees planted last spring, taking out grass to add bushes, flowers and ground cover in this area. Am going to plant more trees too.

This area gets lots of sun, Raspberry bushes are planted along the fence. Am building a sitting porch and small garden shed in the back between the pine tree and fence. Using old door, stack of wood is old shingles from my roof for side/roof of structure. So I don't care about the lack of grass by the pine tree, will eventually get plantings around the shed/structure.

The "big dog" problem path is to the right/middle of the photo. They run this from the back door, across the patio and around the back of yard. I could block this with patio furniture, but they would just make another path.

Second photo is of left side, most of the grass I am taking out by the patio is being replanted in the bad lawn area seen. The dying grass is from the dog's winter..it came back fine last year on that side. I'd say half of the lawn seen is clover, impervious to the dogs. Loved this last year and made mowing so much easier.

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Didn't get to the nursery, got a bit lazy with the rain.

I did buy flats of creeping thyme on Thursday. They had 5 types and should go back and get the wooley. I know from past experience this gets bought up fast and usually doesn't show up again.

As for pea gravel, previous owners put tons in and I dig it out constantly. Have the same problem as mentioned too...the neighbors pea gravel drains into my yard. Plus the dogs won't use a path with gravel or if I put in pavers.

So..what I want to do is seed the lawn as mentioned and as time goes on hoping for a colorful back yard. I'll fence the path temporarily until established. Have a full sprinkler system, no problem getting all watered.

The lawn is very old and should be torn out, far too much work and I plan on being here for the duration....reason for the English daisies and Yarrow. Someone else can sod in far way if they want to care for a huge lawn of green grass.

Yarrow seeds are so easy to grow that your suggestion regarding buying the 10 for, etc. is most likely a lot less expensive than the per pound idea. And, yes the millefolium is the one being used for lawns, it can be mowed to grass height.

Hi, I'm a little late to the party here but we are (FINALLY!!) ready to put our lawn in this spring and this posting brought me to a dead halt. We were all set to buy Legacy Buffalograss sod but now you've got me concerned about its traffic tolerance. I don't have any dogs but between the gatherings we plan to host and an active toddler I'm wondering how it might (not) hold up.

Emagineer, do you think that if you had started with sod instead that you might have had better luck? Or if the dogs weren't a factor?

I read an article recently that said the type of turfgrass doesn't matter much so long as you limit it. Well, my entire front yard is all xeriscape with nary a blade of grass in sight and the area we're doing in the back is only about 60'x22'. Since I know my deep watering practices should I just go with KBG? I hate to spend a lot on the Buffalo sod if I'll always be cursing its lack of traffic durability. I love that Buffalograss is so drought and disease tolerant but would it make a good lawn for an active family?

Don't mean to jump your thread, Emagineer, but any thoughts or feedback from you or the RMG crew would be appreciated!

Amester,
I just talked to a company in Nebraska (another subject), he told me that the buffalo grasses have been enhanced a great deal. Mine was 4 years ago and used plugs, then filled in with seed. I mentioned the traffic issue and he said this too wasn't what once was. The guy also said that preparing your soil well and using seed is the best direction. Seed gets a better chance at adjusting to your location for long years ahead.

Gotta go...but will put the link here tomorrow.

Amester..am back to give you the link. I was really impressed with the info "John" gave me regarding lawn alternatives and discussion regarding buffalo grass. Would recommend your talking to him and looking at their options. They have worked with the university on a number of projects relating to such.

Emagineer, thank you so much for your response! I am very good at site prep but am really wondering about sod being a smarter way to go as far as just getting the bloody thing established (we've been living with straight dirt for three years now!). I will certainly talk to John, I appreciate the info.
I'm excited to see where you take your yard, keep us posted!

I have no real knowledge when it comes to lawns, they drag me down trying to keep up with all required. Plus, I think I am too laid back to have a pristine lawn, designed landscape, etc.

One of the best lawns we had in the past was one that they "blew" a mixture of seed and paper on raw dirt. The lawn turned out beutiful. We did have to put a temporary fence around it for a while to keep the dogs off. The easiest is sod, but requires a great deal of water and I wouldn't put one in without first installing a sprinkler system.

Someone else needs to jump in regarding lawns. Perhaps heading over to the lawn forum, they focus on such and can probalbly give you the right info.

emagineer, I am glad you posted a picture of the area. It looks like this area doesn't get a lot of direct sun, especially in the corners, under the trees; etc. Buffalo grass does need its sun. You will do well with a thyme that can handle shade in those corners.

I planted Ohme Gardens Thyme from HCG in areas such as yours last year (under my pines, corners, etc) and those hardy little guys really surprised me. Not only did they survive little water, each tiny plug spread to a circumference of about 6 to 7 inches in one season!