A Lawn--Is it Really Worth It?

Anyone who's every had a yard to maintain knows how hard it is during the late spring and summer months when grasses begin growing like mad. When I had a lot of shade, I used to yearn for some sun so the flowers would bloom and thrive. Now that I do, it has become painfully obvious that with lots of sunshine also come a lot of problems.

http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/low-maintenance-lawn.html
If you have a fairly large lawn you know that weeds just love sunshine and that getting rid of them is almost a constant struggle. And even the turf grass that can be so lovely requires regular mowing once every ten days or even a week. Say you're willing to do the mowing and put down regular weed killer and fertilizer. If you have neighbors nearby who don't care for their lawns, all this work can be an uphill battle. When neighbors don't kill their weeds and take care of their lawns, all those seeds from their weeds and unwanted grasses will just blow into your yard, starting a whole new batch of problems for you. It can be frustrating, to say the least. What can be done to help keep a yard that's as low maintenance as possible and still very lovely?

The first thing to think about is the type of grass that requires the least maintenance. What grasses are best for what zones? There are some grasses that are very high maintenance. Unfortunately one of them is Bermuda. Kentucky bluegrass, Perennial Ryegrass, and Tall Fescue are quite high maintenance, needing frequent watering and mowing. Anyone making plans to return their lawns should absolutely consider planting Zoysia or Buffalograss. Buffalograss has a fine blade, requires very little watering and only has to be mowed much less often. Zoysia is really fantastic. It doesn't have to be mowed as often as Bermuda or Fescue, and when it spreads it forms a very dense carpet that is weed resistant and quite pretty.
http://www.stockseed.com/buffalograsses_turfgrass_maint_comp_chart.asp

Next, take a look at the lawn. There are probably spots of grass that could be replaced with gravel, monkeygrass, or some ornamental grasses. Monkeygrass could be planted as a border right across the front yard. It requires very little maintenance and doesn't have to be mowed except once a year in the early spring to remove all the dead blades. More and more landscapers are beginning to use ornamental grasses as focal points around lawns. Pick a good spot and plant two or three of these tall plants at the edge of a corner or beside a driveway. It will take up room, provide interest and beauty and mean that much less mowing that has to be done. The value of shrubs can't be stressed enough, either. Some varieties of azaleas will do well in sunshine, but most like a bit of shade.

Sometimes a wide, winding pathway can be a nice feature. Gravel is perfect for creating a Japanese effect. Plan a path about two feet wide and softly curve it to meet a garage or outbuilding. If there is no other building, then plan your path to run toward a focal point, like a flower garden. That can open up all sorts of possibilities.

Rock gardens can be created in the corners of a yard or beside fences. They're easy to maintain and add a sort of tropical or desert atmosphere to any yard. Make sure to layer the rocks so that they are at different heights. Then, make sure to buy plants that don't require much watering and choose a variety of colors and heights. An ornamental grass would look nice beside the rocks as well. Spurge, Scotch moss and sedum's are great plants for these types of gardens.

Anything you can do to minimize the area of grass that has to be kept up, the better it will be. Planting shrubs, monkeygrass borders, and creating some rock gardens can eliminate a good part of the lawn. Building a deck or laying a patio will add entertainment area while eliminating just that much more lawn. Then, replacing an old lawn with low-maintenance Buffalograss or Zoysia will take care of what lawn area that's left.
http://landscaping.about.com/od/rockgardens/ss/rock_gardens_10.htm