12 Amazing Stepable Plants
12 Amazing Stepable Plants
I am not known for my patience. I enjoy the immediate gratification of instant messaging, fast food, and direct deposits.
While not everything can be so simple, your lawn care can be. Whether you’re against mowing your lawn every week or need some filler between your flowers or stepping stones, you want something quick, you want something simple, and most importantly you want something effective.
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Here are twelve plants to take into consideration when landscaping your lawn.
1. Elfin Thyme Path
Elfin Thyme Path
Elfin Thyme Path is a dwarf thyme. This plant is ideal for growing between courtyard bricks and pavers.
The occasional flowers will bloom, though they will remain extremely flat in a beautiful lavender shade.
Elfin Thyme is extremely drought-resistant, perfect for lazy gardeners like myself who want to enjoy the view without having to work up a sweat.
2. Blue Star Creepers
Blue Star Creepers
Blue Star Creepers make wonderful replacements for the entire lawn. It also excels between stepping stones, under flowers, and under manmade ponds.
They are extremely easy to grow and will bloom in the spring and summer seasons.
They are also extremely strong plants as they are able to survive in -20 degree weather and snow covering.
Will they look as beautiful as they look in the spring and summer, no. They will take on a rather ragged look during extreme cold and heat, but will thrive in moist landscapes.
Their petite green leaves will form a thick mat between stepping stones and around patios and ponds.
You’ll also be able to enjoy blue star-shaped flowers during the spring months.
The creepers do not come by this name for nothing, they are not native to the United States and can become invasive if over saturated or over-fertilized.
3. Bronze Dutch Clover
Bronze Dutch Clover
The Bronze Dutch Clover will add a wonderful contrast to your green lawn with a carpet of red leaves framed with green edges.
They bloom most during the summer with white buds. They are easy to grow, but do require well-drained, slightly moistened soil.
They endure full sunlight and limited shade. Sunlight is required to bring out the red, too much shade will not kill the clover, but it will result in a wholly green plant.
Consider the Dutch Clovers your police force of your garden. They expand quickly, killing weeds and regulating your lawn’s erosion in the process.
4. Coral Carpet Stonecrop Path
Coral Carpet Stonecrop Path
Coral Carpet Stonecrop is part of the Evergreen family and is as such a forceful and dynamic groundcover.
It is mat-forming, the new-growth will grow into a salmon-like color and morph into a bright green which can then transform into a reddish-bronze tint in the winter.
Your lawn will be the most fashionable on the block, changing colors with the seasons just as we do.
Coral Carpet will drape majestically over a wall and can decorate the ground just as easily under other shrubs or flowers.
You must allow for drainage, over watering the Coral Carpet will mar its growth.
5. Woolly Thyme Path
Woolly Thyme Path
While I love beautiful things, I am also exceedingly stalwart on every item in my home having a purpose.
Why should my garden be any different? Woolly Thyme fits perfectly with my anti-clutter personality as it has medicinal and culinary uses in addition to being an attractive accessory to my lawn.
The Woolly Thyme is drought tolerant and will actually emit a pleasurable fragrance when walked over.
It spreads slowly over time, creating a dense mat of undergrowth. In the summer, it produces tiny pink and purple flowers.
They will rarely grow higher than twelve inches. This is a plant for gardeners too busy to garden.
6. Bird’s Foot Trefoil
Bird’s Foot Trefoil
The Bird’s Foot Trefoil will need occasional maintenance like mowing to keep it looking neat.
Never fear, they will still bloom after your mowing is complete. It is a tough plant and is often used as ground cover.
It gets its name due to the clusters of yellow flowers which will yield seedpods that stretch out like a bird’s foot.
They are not fussy about the type of soil they are planted in, but they will need a location with good drainage.
They will need regular watering until they have established themselves.
7. Beach Strawberry
Beach Strawberry
If your lawn is rather hilly, the Beach Strawberry can help. It has been used a lawn substitute and is great for stabilizing slopes.
Small white flowers will bloom in the spring and will be followed by edible red berries.
Don’t bother with breakfast, just pluck a few off the bush on the way to work.
The plants will root and produce runners that will spread and tolerate reasonable foot traffic.
This is not a plant for perennial borders as the runners will advance in all directions and overtake other nearby plants.
8. Irish/Scotch Moss
Irish/Scotch Moss
Though not a true moss, Irish/Scotch Moss will grow like one. It fancies more sunlight than true mosses and is perfect for use in rock gardens to soften the effects of the rough stone.
They require ample water and slight shade. It grows at a moderate rate and will grow best when planted in rich, but well-drained soil.
It will go dormant during the summer months without thorough watering.
9. Green Carpet Rupturewort Path
Green Carpet Rupturewort Path
If you need a dog friendly and drought tolerant grass, this is what you will need. It is soft to walk on, ideal for pets and toddlers who frequently walk around barefoot.
It is not bothered by foot traffic and will spread effortlessly. A no-fuss plant, it will happily grow in soil as well as gravel.
It will also produce modest green and white flowers that thankfully will not attract any sting-happy bees.
10. Goldmoss Stonecrop Path
Goldmoss Stonecrop Path
Keep your lawn colorful during the winter months with Goldmoss Stonecrop.
While bright and cheery with yellow flowers in the summer, they will morph into a gorgeous red during the winter.
Your lawn will be completely engulfed in these flowers, so be sure that you enjoy their look and scent.
This plant will attract an array of butterflies and birds as well as bees. Like many of the others mentioned in this article, the Goldmoss also requires sharp drainage and overwatering will harm it.
11. John Creech Sedum
John Creech Sedum
This weed smothering ground cover is perfect for spotting in rock walls and gardens.
The durable leaves won’t mind your feet one bit as a layer of pink flowers bloom and conceal the luxurious carpet.
Burgundy tones will overtake the pink as the weather cools down. The John Creech’s require a bit more attention than others on this list.
They need fertilization in the spring as well as weed control until they have reached maturity. Clipping spent flowers will stimulate their continued bloom.
12. Purple Creeping Mazus
Purple Creeping Mazus
These flowers are native to the Himalayas and depending on the species you purchase, you will get lavender or white flowers.
They grow two to six inches tall and can spread anywhere from six to twelve inches long.
They flourish in well-drained soils and grow best in full sun to part shade. Many have used Purple Creeping Mazus as a substitute for typical grass and as a filler for stepping stones.
You now have no excuse for that wasteland you call a yard. Cover that dirt and dust with creeping greens or mat-making moss and enjoy the sun.
God knows we all need some color in our lives and this is just the ticket for those who want the green without spending it.
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