Continuing with the previous post about the BBC news , "Grass-free lawn opens in London park", this week we present another very suitable ground cover plant, for sustainable gardening, as a substitute for traditional grass.
If in the previous post we focused on Pratia pedunculata which is characterized by having tolerance to partial shade and withstanding a certain moisture in the soil. In this one we present another ideal plant to replace grass, in this case, in conditions of full sun exposure and low water requirements.
One of the species with these characteristics that we can find at Viveros Sala Graupera is _Dymondia margaretae_ :
This perennial plant native to South Africa, belonging to the Asteraceae family, has fast, compact and orderly growth, in the form of a basal rosette. It reaches a height of 3 to 5 cm and each plant extends approximately in a radius of 15 cm, completely covering the surface giving rise to a dense bluish-green mat; while the underside, which has a felt-like texture, is whitish-gray in color and is glimpsed on the surface which gives an interesting chromatic dynamism to the carpet.
The flowers are composite, daisy-shaped, as indicated by its name, small in size and yellow in color, appearing from late winter to early summer.
Dymondia requires well-drained soil, likes slightly alkaline soils and is very resistant to drought. However, it does not tolerate waterlogging and this fact will be the main cause of finding unsightly wilted patches. On the contrary, when a Dymondia is stressed, either by an intense lack of water or fertilizer, it shows in greater proportion the whitish part of the underside of the leaves.
It is resistant to light frosts and correctly withstands light pedestrian traffic. It also tolerates salinity and sea breeze well.
Pratia and Dymondia, among others, are ground covers that withstand light traffic and are characterized by having rapid growth, that is why we present these plants, since many times this type of grass alternatives are dispensed with due to their slow growth, which makes their management more complex and unattractive in the first years of establishment, but this is not the case with these two species, which therefore postulate themselves as very good and interesting alternatives to traditional grass.