Low-maintenance lawn grasses can save you from having to mow, fertilize, or water excessively.

Learn about 15 low-maintenance lawn grasses or grass alternatives that homeowners can add to their yards.

What Makes a Grass Low-Maintenance?

Lawn full of green grass and white four leaf clover in blossom. Nature background.

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you might also choose not to mow it.

Moss

The Spruce / Steven Merkel

Moss is a sensible alternative to grass in a shady spot.

Many lawn grasses don’t like shade, but moss thrives in it.

Closeup showing blades of buffalo grass

The Spruce / Adrienne Legault

Nor does moss mind the acidic soils that lawn grasses detest.

And, of course, it doesn’t have to be mowed.

As a nitrogen-fixer, it doesn’t have to be fertilized often.

Patch of moss growing in lawn with surrounding mulch

The Spruce / Steven Merkel

Clover is also valued for its drought tolerance.

What Is Nitrogen Fixation?

Nitrogen fixation is the process that takes nitrogen inaccessible to plants and makes it accessible to them.

Creeping thyme with purple flowers

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Because it produces pretty, aromatic flowers, they feel it is superior to grass aesthetically.

Walking on it releases a wonderful fragrance!

Lovers of low maintenance will love the idea that it doesn’t have to be mowed.

Fine fescue with bluish hue in lawn.

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Ornamental Grass

you might’t walk on ornamental grass, so it isn’t really a lawn substitute.

An example of a short ornamental grass isblue fescue grass.

Its biggest pro is that it is drought-tolerant.

Blue fescue, a small ornamental grass.

David Beaulieu

Zoysia Grass

Zoysia is a better choice in warm-season grasses if you are seeking low maintenance.

It tolerates drought and foot traffic, nor does it require large amounts of fertilizer.

Centipede Grass

The Spruce / Krystal Slagle

This warm-season grass needs less fertilizer than most lawn grasses.

Bermuda grass; best grasses for dogs

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But, be mindful that centipede grass does not withstand heavy foot traffic.

It is also shade-tolerant.

Overall, though, St. Augustine is not as low-maintenance as Zoysia.

Tall fescue grass with wide blades stacked on each other closeup

The Spruce / K. Dave

Because of its unusual color, it can be a real attention grabber.

It stays relatively short, so you won’t have to mow it.

Sedge

There are many types of sedge.

Centipede grass patch with short upright blades

The Spruce / Krystal Slagle

Some stay short enough that you don’t have to mow them.

Not true grasses, they do resemble grass.

Sedges are amongthe plants that grow well in wet soil.

Lawn of St. Augustine grass at a curbside.

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But if you don’t mind a substitute, grow sedge as a low-maintenance grass alternative.

This cool-season grass is also shade-tolerant.

In the case of lawn grasses, there are three zones:

What About the Transition Zone?

Black mondo grass close up

The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova

If you want a low-maintenance grass for the cooler climates, fine fescue and tall fescue are popular choices.

Warmer climates have more choices, including such warm-season grasses as zoysia and Bermuda grass.

Buffalo grass is suited to a wider range of climates than most grasses.

Field of bahia grass in bloom.

John Robert McPherson/ Wikimedia Commons /CC BY-SA 4.0

It is extremely hardy, drought-tolerant, and low-mow.

Sedge ground cover under trees.

Kathleen Groll Connolly

Blades of grass, red fescue or creeping red fescue grass (Festuca rubra), Freiamt, Black Forest, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany

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