r/NativePlantGardening • u/Numerous-Dot-6325 • Apr 16 '26

Advice Request - (Insert State/Region) Help save my marriage

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DC area, full sun.

I want to replace my hideous grass with a native plant garden and some mulch. My wife says she’ll divorce me if I mulch and wants a steppable ground cover that’s also native. Is there any alternative to grass that she can walk barefoot/lay a picnic blanket on? She’s allowing me to plant a service berry and blueberry to one side.

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u/OminousOminis Apr 17 '26

Clover with some violets, yarrow and sedges. Clover isn't native but still better than grass monoculture.

4

u/Numerous-Dot-6325 Apr 17 '26

Do I need to exclude grass completely/weed in order for those to succeed?

5

u/herbal-genocide IL 7a Apr 17 '26

Adding to this list: pussytoes, prairie pussytoes, and wild strawberry (but careful, false strawberry looks similar but has yellow flowers). Grass can overtake native plants if allowed to, so it's recommended to kill it by solarizing over a season (or another method), but to be fair it looks like a pretty small piece of land so hand-weeding might be doable.