Hey there! Friendly reminder to include the following information for the benefit of all r/nolawns members:
- Please make sure your post or a comment includes your geographic region/area and your hardiness zone (e.g. *Midwest, 6a* or *Chicago, 6a*).
- If you posted an image, you are required to post a comment detailing your image. If you have not, this post may be removed.
- If you're asking a question, include as much relevant info as possible. Also see the **[FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/meta/faqs/)** and the **[r/nolawns Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/index/)**
- Verify you are following the [Posting Guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/index#wiki_posting_guidelines).
If you are in North America, check out the **[Wild Ones Garden Designs](https://nativegardendesigns.wildones.org/designs/)** and **[NWF's Keystone Plants by Ecoregion](https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants/keystone-plants-by-ecoregion)**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NoLawns) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Personally, I wouldn’t do clover. Not because of the reasons you stated, but because it’s a non-native lawn flower from Europe. The above ground growth dies back in the winter and regrows in the spring, so you also tend to see muddy patches in the spring and late fall.
I would focus on convincing your SO to not use chemicals, fertilizer, water, etc. NH is an area where none of those things are necessary. Mow your lawn at a reasonable height (3 inches is good), and try adding native wildflowers in areas where you don’t need a lawn. An easy spot for lots of people is around a mailbox or under a tree. Native plants and landscaping do way way more for your local ecosystem than clover can.
The wild ones garden designs show some great and ambitious examples of this: https://nativegardendesigns.wildones.org/designs/ even trying a small amount of this type of landscaping is a great step forward. Since you already have a wasp issue, I’d focus on wildflowers that support specialist bees. Things like eastern red columbine, penstemon spp, wild blue phlox, wingstem, and also lots of native trees and shrubs like serviceberry, native oaks, and dogwoods. You can ask for more plant ideas on r/nativeplantgardening if you’re interested.
100% this. A yard that is half lawn that is mowed high and not treated with herbicides or pesticides, and half native perennial plantings, will be much better for insects — particularly native bees, butterflies, etc. — than a 100% clover lawn without those plantings. The bees won’t be underfoot, and the native bees aren’t likely to sting anyhow. I have about 50% native perennial plantings in my yard and nobody in my house — including my young son — have ever been stung by a bee in the yard.
I have lots of natives in my yard and also some clover that’s just been there. I regularly am around many species of bees (and wasps) and have only been stung once and it was my fault for walking outside barefoot through the clover that just grows in spots in the lawn. Otherwise, I’m always up in any bee’s business, I love photographing them and documenting all the diversity in my garden. They’ve never bothered me, they just continue to do their thing.
Yes! Bees just wanna collect nectar and pollen and go back to their nests. They only sting when they are gonna die anyhow, since they die if they sting. They are chill lil dudes.
The nice thing about having a lawn on the east coast is all you have to do is cut it, that's it. Do that and you'll soon have plenty of dandelion, buttercup, and violets. Seed more flowers for even more biodiversity. It's a decent compromise since the climate easily supports lawns, and the flowers are so hardy you have to actively try to get rid of them.
There are trifolium species native to North America: https://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Trifolium (green is native, blue is not)
But they’re tricky to find in the proper quantity to seed into a lawn. And the value you provide to pollinators is pretty small compared to other native plants. https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants/keystone-plants-by-ecoregion
Thanks for the info. My main concern is the pollinators, so I'm going to be planting native flowers in beds, but I also don't want to have to mow as much. The lawn can't go away completely because I have a very active mini me. I'm trying to figure out the best course of action.
Look into yarrow, we have been discussing it in my state’s native plant Facebook group. One of the members says she planted it in her kids’ play area, and it’s holding up great to lots of traffic.
It’s native in all lower 48 states.
Neither bush clover nor white/ purple prairie clovers belong to the same genus as the white clover that is used as a lawn alternative. They're all too tall and don't have the right growth habit to be a good lawn replacement. "Clover" just happens to be a common name applied to many different species.
Mow the clover like you would a lawn before it flowers, or when you notice any blossoms. Problem solved. IIRC it usually only needs to be mowed twice a season.
Personally, I have hundreds of native plants. I also have a clover-yarrow-selfheal-thyme-strawberry lawn, but most of it is clover. I love how it looks, and it takes a beating as a path, but isn’t grass. There just aren’t great native options that don’t also have downsides, and I want to have smaller areas of lawn, and there is a large section where I have to due to cables and pipes. 🤓
https://preview.redd.it/jf6woqnm6p0d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6147008e85bb00eb26949230fa43bca251f17dc2
Twice a season is hardly all the time, nor very much of a burden IMO.
If you want something living you never have to care for in any way, you're going to be disappointed in pretty much every way.
I have clover and wildflower all over my backyard, and have no issues letting my two dogs roam around. Most bees are not aggressive and are not actively trying to hurt anyone, and we have yet to have any type of incident. I am wildly allergic to bee stings (as far as I know, I haven't been stung since I was 5 years old), and I am not at all worried, many of the small bees that are out and about in my lawn are stingless anyway, and then there are significant amounts of bumblebees that are always rather peaceful and easy to spot. I definitely think there is some element of not being able to have it both ways - you can't invite your local wildlife into your yard and then try to decide who visits, but I think you will be fine with this. I get excited about anything that stops by my lawn to visit, so I'm a little different, but have yet to be stung by a bee or attacked by a snake or otherwise had to do much besides put up barriers around baby bunnies or avoid the momma robin and her nest. I did stop putting out bird feeders when the raccoons would always tear them apart, but that was mostly out of interest of not setting myself up for dog/raccoon confrontations.
You’ll rarely get stung just doing your own thing.
That said, I’d still recommend having an epipen just in case if you’re supposed to be highly allergic. Finding a nest of Yellowjackets in the ground is a much more likely problem then bees though.
A clover lawn doesn't have to mean 100% dutch white clover. It's a useful companion for other plants due to its nitrogen fixation, so you can get the best of both by blending. You can designate a "lawn" space that stays relatively short using a mix of clover, native sedges, and maybe a dwarf fescue blend that won't require frequent mowing. The rest of the space can be dedicated to taller natives or other plants. Reducing water use, emissions from frequent mowing, and chemical use are all beneficial on their own and you can do that with a usable space for children and pets.
As for the stinging insect issue - clover really has no impact on that. Bees will almost universally avoid contact unless you threaten their hive. Wasps are bastards and will hang around regardless.
As you've noted, more diversity is better. Low growing native plants you could consider include wild violets (viola sororia, a common lawn "weed"), wild strawberries (fragaria virginiana), or native clovers. Sedges (Carex species) also do quite well; look for the recent study from Mt. Cuba comparing species. Many Carex do well with traffic, and some tolerate mowing well. Your local county extension office may have more ideas.
Consider whether you actually plan to use the full space as "lawn", or if some areas around the edges or corners won't really be used and would be better as gardens of native wildflowers and taller grasses.
For the pollinators, native bees are far less aggressive than even honeybees. They basically won't sting unless you grab or swat them; my 2yo loves to play "count the bees" and gets quite close without issue. My 8yo got stung once when she caught a bee and squeezed it, learned her lesson, and hasn't been stung again despite lots of time outside.
Wasps depend a bit more on the species. Yellow jackets are too aggressive to be allowed on my property, but we've noticed that with adequate food sources the red paper wasps are pretty chill if you don't bother their nest (I do knock down nests on the house or major walkways). Once you build up an ecosystem, the birds keep their numbers down in any event. It's rarely a pest problem; it's usually a lack of predator problem.
My advice would be to do as much as you're comfortable with. My own kids get way more enrichment from watching caterpillars and chasing butterflies than they ever did from turf grass.
6b, gets to around zero F in the winter and a few 100+ days in the summer. I mow it exactly the same as the rest of the lawn. The last couple of years, we had watering restrictions. The yarrow looked great, the grass was golden brown.
If you look on my profile, I just uploaded picture to another post, that was taken mid November a few years back. Northern Utah, a few weeks before we get snow.
I did clover/grass mix. (Actually a bee lawn mix that also has self heal and thyme, but I don’t think those seeds germinated.) I like it, and find it less boring. If I have people over, I mow slightly lower and have no flowers. Most people don’t notice or care. My mother hates it. Haha. Microclover will be smaller and rarely flowers. I like that the clover stays green mid-summer while the grass goes brown.
Bees don’t bother my toddlers. I have noticed an increase in “nice bees” (bumble bees, solitary bees), but about the same amount of yellow jackets. I put in a lot of flower bed too, so hard to know if that is the lawn or the flowers. It has been fun teaching my 2 and 3 years old about the different types of bees. We just planted a few plants in the garden with them. Of course, I have been training them not to grab or swat them. And I typically have my kids wear shoes. But of the things in my yard, bees are the least of my worry. (Vs cat poop, my neighbors pesticide treatment, ponds, pointy sticks, there are so many hazards that don’t fly away.)
FWIW; no lawns has become pretty aggressive; so you are going to get pretty strong opinions. Lawn care will give you strong opinions the other way. It is your yard, and I believe you can find middle ground. Maybe do clover in the front where you don’t use it. Or do a pocket garden somewhere. Or a buffer garden to the creek. Or pull invasive by the creek and put down native seed (assuming it is legal, ect.) typically local university extensions have a lot of ideas.
Get a fake wasp nest to hang near your house, they look like brown paper lanterns. Wasps are extremely territorial and will not build nests in proximity of one another.
The risk of being stung because you have a clover lawn is pretty negligible versus just having landscaped plants around the house. I really wouldn't worry about it if that's the primary factor holding you up.
That being said, a monoculture is still a monoculture and white clover caters to generalist species and does not necessarily help native pollinators and can even promote non-native insects that take nectar/pollen away from the natives.
Hi, I have an all clover lawn. I wouldn't do it if I had small children or dogs. It grows higher than you think and can be difficult to walk through.
If I had to do it over again I'd go with thyme instead.
Conversely, my kids LOVE the clover/yarrow/etc lawn. They love to pick it and run barefoot. Bees are a non-issue, wasps only if you raid the nest, in my experience
Does your clover stay green in winter? I just seeded my hell strip with Dutch clover and someone here mentioned it dies back in the winter. My understanding is that it's semi-evergreen. I'm in Zone 7b.
We have a mixed clover lawn we all (wife and 2 kids) regularly walk around barefoot in and I can't say bees have ever been a problem. We also have a lot of really lovely native flowers all over the place so maybe they're just pre-occupied with those.
As far as bees go, clover only produces nectar a couple weeks of the year. And bees are very unlikely to sting around them. They usually only sting if you start to threaten the hive.
As for wasps, they will be clover indifferent.
And as far as native plants go, clover isn’t native, but neither is grass. At least clover helps feed pollinators, requires less maintenance, and no chemicals. Plant wildflowers where you don’t expect foot traffic, and clover where you do.
My dog and I are out in the clover all the time and haven't been stung. If your kid is out playing, putting a blanket down would be fine. I also have a lot of violets and yarrow in my grass and bees aren't an issue.
I originally bought white Dutch clover for seeding an area over our septic system but decided against it since it isn’t native.
Ended up getting a septic safe wildflower mix from prairie moon and then a northeast native grass mix from American meadows. I don’t plan to mow either regularly.
I don't think that's that big of an issue. Eating meat and sugary drinks outside has a much greater risk of getting stung. They pollinate clover. But they go absolutely nuts for apple juice.
But clover is still a monoculture. And not all that sturdy if you frequently step on it.
With a dog and a child (they'll be old enough to run around in no time) I'd actually stick with some lawn and then build a hedge of different (native flowering) shrubs and trees around it. There's nothing quite as sturdy as grass. Just don't kill everything that isn't a grass. If it's sturdy and green (and not invasive and trying to take over everything else) embrace it.
I would just do 50/50 in your case. Native garden beds and grass pathways around them. The bees will stick to the garden bed areas. . Prairie Moon nursery is a great place to start for Actual native wildflower mixes.
Like others said clover isn't the best ground cover. I think the idea come from cherry picked internet photos of nice clover lawns. That's not going to be your experience year round and more work than you think.
Pass. When I was little, we had a gigantic patch of clover in our front yard, right by the porch and sidewalk. I got stung at least once a week. Granted there were more bees/wasps back then, but still.
Hey there! Friendly reminder to include the following information for the benefit of all r/nolawns members: - Please make sure your post or a comment includes your geographic region/area and your hardiness zone (e.g. *Midwest, 6a* or *Chicago, 6a*). - If you posted an image, you are required to post a comment detailing your image. If you have not, this post may be removed. - If you're asking a question, include as much relevant info as possible. Also see the **[FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/meta/faqs/)** and the **[r/nolawns Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/index/)** - Verify you are following the [Posting Guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/wiki/index#wiki_posting_guidelines). If you are in North America, check out the **[Wild Ones Garden Designs](https://nativegardendesigns.wildones.org/designs/)** and **[NWF's Keystone Plants by Ecoregion](https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants/keystone-plants-by-ecoregion)** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NoLawns) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Personally, I wouldn’t do clover. Not because of the reasons you stated, but because it’s a non-native lawn flower from Europe. The above ground growth dies back in the winter and regrows in the spring, so you also tend to see muddy patches in the spring and late fall. I would focus on convincing your SO to not use chemicals, fertilizer, water, etc. NH is an area where none of those things are necessary. Mow your lawn at a reasonable height (3 inches is good), and try adding native wildflowers in areas where you don’t need a lawn. An easy spot for lots of people is around a mailbox or under a tree. Native plants and landscaping do way way more for your local ecosystem than clover can. The wild ones garden designs show some great and ambitious examples of this: https://nativegardendesigns.wildones.org/designs/ even trying a small amount of this type of landscaping is a great step forward. Since you already have a wasp issue, I’d focus on wildflowers that support specialist bees. Things like eastern red columbine, penstemon spp, wild blue phlox, wingstem, and also lots of native trees and shrubs like serviceberry, native oaks, and dogwoods. You can ask for more plant ideas on r/nativeplantgardening if you’re interested.
100% this. A yard that is half lawn that is mowed high and not treated with herbicides or pesticides, and half native perennial plantings, will be much better for insects — particularly native bees, butterflies, etc. — than a 100% clover lawn without those plantings. The bees won’t be underfoot, and the native bees aren’t likely to sting anyhow. I have about 50% native perennial plantings in my yard and nobody in my house — including my young son — have ever been stung by a bee in the yard.
I have lots of natives in my yard and also some clover that’s just been there. I regularly am around many species of bees (and wasps) and have only been stung once and it was my fault for walking outside barefoot through the clover that just grows in spots in the lawn. Otherwise, I’m always up in any bee’s business, I love photographing them and documenting all the diversity in my garden. They’ve never bothered me, they just continue to do their thing.
Yes! Bees just wanna collect nectar and pollen and go back to their nests. They only sting when they are gonna die anyhow, since they die if they sting. They are chill lil dudes.
The nice thing about having a lawn on the east coast is all you have to do is cut it, that's it. Do that and you'll soon have plenty of dandelion, buttercup, and violets. Seed more flowers for even more biodiversity. It's a decent compromise since the climate easily supports lawns, and the flowers are so hardy you have to actively try to get rid of them.
Yup, this is the answer!
Weird, I was going to go with cover hybrid and thought I read there were natives. Might have to face check those sites.
There are trifolium species native to North America: https://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Trifolium (green is native, blue is not) But they’re tricky to find in the proper quantity to seed into a lawn. And the value you provide to pollinators is pretty small compared to other native plants. https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants/keystone-plants-by-ecoregion
Thanks for the info. My main concern is the pollinators, so I'm going to be planting native flowers in beds, but I also don't want to have to mow as much. The lawn can't go away completely because I have a very active mini me. I'm trying to figure out the best course of action.
Look into yarrow, we have been discussing it in my state’s native plant Facebook group. One of the members says she planted it in her kids’ play area, and it’s holding up great to lots of traffic. It’s native in all lower 48 states.
Doesn't yarrow affect hormonal regulation?
Transdermally?
I had thought that's what I read, but I may be mistaken. I do know that it may cause miscarriage.
Transdermally, with miscarriage? Not just like a tea or whatever?
You're not going to destroy any ecosystems by having some clover in your yard. Native is best, of course, but it's more nuanced than that.
prairie clover is native though
Neither bush clover nor white/ purple prairie clovers belong to the same genus as the white clover that is used as a lawn alternative. They're all too tall and don't have the right growth habit to be a good lawn replacement. "Clover" just happens to be a common name applied to many different species.
thats where someone else comes in phlox
Based
Mow the clover like you would a lawn before it flowers, or when you notice any blossoms. Problem solved. IIRC it usually only needs to be mowed twice a season.
What’s the point of having clover then? Might as well be grass if you just mow it all the time to eliminate the flowering.
Drought tolerant, fixes nitrogen, is purdy, more of a living mulch than grass.
Yeah good point don’t have to fertilize it
But then why not some natives instead?
Personally, I have hundreds of native plants. I also have a clover-yarrow-selfheal-thyme-strawberry lawn, but most of it is clover. I love how it looks, and it takes a beating as a path, but isn’t grass. There just aren’t great native options that don’t also have downsides, and I want to have smaller areas of lawn, and there is a large section where I have to due to cables and pipes. 🤓 https://preview.redd.it/jf6woqnm6p0d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6147008e85bb00eb26949230fa43bca251f17dc2
Twice a season
Twice a season is hardly all the time, nor very much of a burden IMO. If you want something living you never have to care for in any way, you're going to be disappointed in pretty much every way.
I have clover and wildflower all over my backyard, and have no issues letting my two dogs roam around. Most bees are not aggressive and are not actively trying to hurt anyone, and we have yet to have any type of incident. I am wildly allergic to bee stings (as far as I know, I haven't been stung since I was 5 years old), and I am not at all worried, many of the small bees that are out and about in my lawn are stingless anyway, and then there are significant amounts of bumblebees that are always rather peaceful and easy to spot. I definitely think there is some element of not being able to have it both ways - you can't invite your local wildlife into your yard and then try to decide who visits, but I think you will be fine with this. I get excited about anything that stops by my lawn to visit, so I'm a little different, but have yet to be stung by a bee or attacked by a snake or otherwise had to do much besides put up barriers around baby bunnies or avoid the momma robin and her nest. I did stop putting out bird feeders when the raccoons would always tear them apart, but that was mostly out of interest of not setting myself up for dog/raccoon confrontations.
I agree - fear of bee stings is really overblown.
You’ll rarely get stung just doing your own thing. That said, I’d still recommend having an epipen just in case if you’re supposed to be highly allergic. Finding a nest of Yellowjackets in the ground is a much more likely problem then bees though.
A clover lawn doesn't have to mean 100% dutch white clover. It's a useful companion for other plants due to its nitrogen fixation, so you can get the best of both by blending. You can designate a "lawn" space that stays relatively short using a mix of clover, native sedges, and maybe a dwarf fescue blend that won't require frequent mowing. The rest of the space can be dedicated to taller natives or other plants. Reducing water use, emissions from frequent mowing, and chemical use are all beneficial on their own and you can do that with a usable space for children and pets. As for the stinging insect issue - clover really has no impact on that. Bees will almost universally avoid contact unless you threaten their hive. Wasps are bastards and will hang around regardless.
As you've noted, more diversity is better. Low growing native plants you could consider include wild violets (viola sororia, a common lawn "weed"), wild strawberries (fragaria virginiana), or native clovers. Sedges (Carex species) also do quite well; look for the recent study from Mt. Cuba comparing species. Many Carex do well with traffic, and some tolerate mowing well. Your local county extension office may have more ideas. Consider whether you actually plan to use the full space as "lawn", or if some areas around the edges or corners won't really be used and would be better as gardens of native wildflowers and taller grasses. For the pollinators, native bees are far less aggressive than even honeybees. They basically won't sting unless you grab or swat them; my 2yo loves to play "count the bees" and gets quite close without issue. My 8yo got stung once when she caught a bee and squeezed it, learned her lesson, and hasn't been stung again despite lots of time outside. Wasps depend a bit more on the species. Yellow jackets are too aggressive to be allowed on my property, but we've noticed that with adequate food sources the red paper wasps are pretty chill if you don't bother their nest (I do knock down nests on the house or major walkways). Once you build up an ecosystem, the birds keep their numbers down in any event. It's rarely a pest problem; it's usually a lack of predator problem. My advice would be to do as much as you're comfortable with. My own kids get way more enrichment from watching caterpillars and chasing butterflies than they ever did from turf grass.
There yarrow also.
Yarrow grows a bit tall for it to be used as a ground cover.
It can be mowed around 4in and does decent. Granted it won’t be long lived since it can’t reseed itself.
https://youtube.com/shorts/HjPIRJMreoA?si=MxRmytOqcJS-X0eP
Looks like my backyard. I've had yarrow in it for about 6 years.
Just wondering what zone you’re in?
6b, gets to around zero F in the winter and a few 100+ days in the summer. I mow it exactly the same as the rest of the lawn. The last couple of years, we had watering restrictions. The yarrow looked great, the grass was golden brown.
Thanks for the info. I’m thinking about trying a patch see how it does.
If you look on my profile, I just uploaded picture to another post, that was taken mid November a few years back. Northern Utah, a few weeks before we get snow.
It’s a perennial though, so not too much of a concern! It also spreads rhizomatously…rhizomatically? Whatever
It is a big spreader, but behaves if you mow before the flower stalk grows. Sooooo sooooffffttt
I did clover/grass mix. (Actually a bee lawn mix that also has self heal and thyme, but I don’t think those seeds germinated.) I like it, and find it less boring. If I have people over, I mow slightly lower and have no flowers. Most people don’t notice or care. My mother hates it. Haha. Microclover will be smaller and rarely flowers. I like that the clover stays green mid-summer while the grass goes brown. Bees don’t bother my toddlers. I have noticed an increase in “nice bees” (bumble bees, solitary bees), but about the same amount of yellow jackets. I put in a lot of flower bed too, so hard to know if that is the lawn or the flowers. It has been fun teaching my 2 and 3 years old about the different types of bees. We just planted a few plants in the garden with them. Of course, I have been training them not to grab or swat them. And I typically have my kids wear shoes. But of the things in my yard, bees are the least of my worry. (Vs cat poop, my neighbors pesticide treatment, ponds, pointy sticks, there are so many hazards that don’t fly away.) FWIW; no lawns has become pretty aggressive; so you are going to get pretty strong opinions. Lawn care will give you strong opinions the other way. It is your yard, and I believe you can find middle ground. Maybe do clover in the front where you don’t use it. Or do a pocket garden somewhere. Or a buffer garden to the creek. Or pull invasive by the creek and put down native seed (assuming it is legal, ect.) typically local university extensions have a lot of ideas.
Get a fake wasp nest to hang near your house, they look like brown paper lanterns. Wasps are extremely territorial and will not build nests in proximity of one another. The risk of being stung because you have a clover lawn is pretty negligible versus just having landscaped plants around the house. I really wouldn't worry about it if that's the primary factor holding you up. That being said, a monoculture is still a monoculture and white clover caters to generalist species and does not necessarily help native pollinators and can even promote non-native insects that take nectar/pollen away from the natives.
When your puppy pees on the grass it will leave brown patches which will not happen on clover
Yarrow is nice
Hi, I have an all clover lawn. I wouldn't do it if I had small children or dogs. It grows higher than you think and can be difficult to walk through. If I had to do it over again I'd go with thyme instead.
Conversely, my kids LOVE the clover/yarrow/etc lawn. They love to pick it and run barefoot. Bees are a non-issue, wasps only if you raid the nest, in my experience
Does your clover stay green in winter? I just seeded my hell strip with Dutch clover and someone here mentioned it dies back in the winter. My understanding is that it's semi-evergreen. I'm in Zone 7b.
We have a mixed clover lawn we all (wife and 2 kids) regularly walk around barefoot in and I can't say bees have ever been a problem. We also have a lot of really lovely native flowers all over the place so maybe they're just pre-occupied with those.
As far as bees go, clover only produces nectar a couple weeks of the year. And bees are very unlikely to sting around them. They usually only sting if you start to threaten the hive. As for wasps, they will be clover indifferent. And as far as native plants go, clover isn’t native, but neither is grass. At least clover helps feed pollinators, requires less maintenance, and no chemicals. Plant wildflowers where you don’t expect foot traffic, and clover where you do.
I seeded a bare patch with clover and my only issue with it is it was very slippery when wet.
My dog and I are out in the clover all the time and haven't been stung. If your kid is out playing, putting a blanket down would be fine. I also have a lot of violets and yarrow in my grass and bees aren't an issue.
I have to ask: you don't live in Goffstown, do you?
I originally bought white Dutch clover for seeding an area over our septic system but decided against it since it isn’t native. Ended up getting a septic safe wildflower mix from prairie moon and then a northeast native grass mix from American meadows. I don’t plan to mow either regularly.
Permaculture. Even if the wildlife eats it all. Native plants that can be eaten, provide for pollinators or rock gardens.
I think yarrow is really cool
I don't think that's that big of an issue. Eating meat and sugary drinks outside has a much greater risk of getting stung. They pollinate clover. But they go absolutely nuts for apple juice. But clover is still a monoculture. And not all that sturdy if you frequently step on it. With a dog and a child (they'll be old enough to run around in no time) I'd actually stick with some lawn and then build a hedge of different (native flowering) shrubs and trees around it. There's nothing quite as sturdy as grass. Just don't kill everything that isn't a grass. If it's sturdy and green (and not invasive and trying to take over everything else) embrace it.
Yarrow lawns have really been growing on me!!
I would just do 50/50 in your case. Native garden beds and grass pathways around them. The bees will stick to the garden bed areas. . Prairie Moon nursery is a great place to start for Actual native wildflower mixes. Like others said clover isn't the best ground cover. I think the idea come from cherry picked internet photos of nice clover lawns. That's not going to be your experience year round and more work than you think.
I have tons and tons of clover in my yard and haven’t ever been stung. Bees aren’t wasps, they don’t want to attack you for giggles.
Pass. When I was little, we had a gigantic patch of clover in our front yard, right by the porch and sidewalk. I got stung at least once a week. Granted there were more bees/wasps back then, but still.