Tiny clover "like" plant

[Bill]

Any clue what this is? It's growing in my lawn. I should have gotten a better perspective shot. The leafs are tiny and it gets a tiny yellow flower. It pretty much laughs at 2,4-D. Not that I care much. The lawn is full of yellow nutsedge and clover. I'm of the opinion no one on thier death bed ever regretted not having a prettier lawn.

 

[Native Hunter]

Yes sir, that is Medicago polymorpha. How you like that name...

Actually the common name is Bur Clover. I see it a lot around here too, but it's an Asian transplant. It's a nitrogen fixer, but I honestly don't know if deer use it much or not. I can tell you that I've seen rabbits set in the same spot for 15 minutes eating it, so I guess there is some wildlife value.

 

[Bill]

Thanks! I can tell you it doesn’t mind poor soil or dry ground. It’s on the edge of the woods and tree roots suck up all the water. Doesn’t seem to bother it.

 

[Native Hunter]

Thanks! I can tell you it doesn’t mind poor soil or dry ground. It’s on the edge of the woods and tree roots suck up all the water. Doesn’t seem to bother it.

Yep, it is tough stuff. I think it's one of those plants that seems to thrive where lots of other stuff won't grow.

 

[yoderjac]

Speaking of having a pretty lawn...Did you know that common clover used to be an integral part of a lawn as a companion plant to grass? The herbicide companies could not develop a herbicide that would kill other common lawn weeds without killing the clover. The orchestrated an advertising campaign aimed at making folks think in terms of a monoculture of fescue. "Our herbicide will get rid of that nasty clover in your yard...Clover attracts bees and you don't want your children stung...". So today, we end up with monocultures of fescue and they can now sell more high-N fertilizer.

My lawn looks like crap up close. It is full of nut sedge, clover, and crabgrass interspersed with the fescue. If I keep it cut, you can't tell from a distance and when all the other lawns turn brown in the summer, mine is nice and green with no watering!

 

[Native Hunter]

I’ve been considering turning part of my yard into Durana. If any grass gets in it I could spray it with cleth. Just a thought I’ve had.

 

[Yarg]

Yep, it is tough stuff. I think it's one of those plants that seems to thrive where lots of other stuff won't grow.

 

[yoderjac]

I’ve been considering turning part of my yard into Durana. If any grass gets in it I could spray it with cleth. Just a thought I’ve had.

I've had the exact same thought but I'm currently in the suburbs and that would make it harder to sell the house. We just bought a couple unimproved lots and plan to build a retirement home. It has about 4 acres of pasture where we plant to build the house. I'm now beginning the process of converting the pasture to Durana. When we build the house, it will be designed with no yard. I'll probably do some combination of brick walkways, stone, and whatever with some kind of permanent weed barrier. Any landscaping trees and shrubs will be put in through the weed barrier or, better yet, containerized. I've been amazed at how much top growth I can get with a tiny root pruning container. I'm may use this inside some kind of decorative pot. Whatever kind of weed barrier I use, it will encircle the house and deck. Beyond that will be something wildlife friendly like clover. I'll use zero fescue. I'll design it so there is no edging or trimming. I'll be able to run the tractor mower over the edge of the permanent weed barrier.

So far, I've prepared 1 acre for planting and as soon as the rain stops here and the field dries out enough, I'll plant it with buckwheat. This fall, the WR and Durana go in. I hope to add 1 acre each year until it is all in Durana.

Keep in mind that Durana eventually wears out and I'll need to rotate something in. I've gotten 7+ years out of some Durana plots on my farm and they don't get good maintenance. I'll probably mow the clover around the house more often for aesthetics.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Bill]

I keep telling my wife the clover is feeding the grass. She don’t like the white flowers.

Funny thing is she keep planting flowers.

 

[yoderjac]

I keep telling my wife the clover is feeding the grass. She don’t like the white flowers.

Funny thing is she keep planting flowers.

Perhaps Crimson Clover is in order!

 

[KDdid]

I’ve had thoughts of a white clover lawn, especially in areas further from the houses. I planted ladino in my garden walkways a couple of years ago, but it gets a little taller than I would like. What would be a lower-growing option for a low maintenance yard?


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[Native Hunter]

I’ve had thoughts of a white clover lawn, especially in areas further from the houses. I planted ladino in my garden walkways a couple of years ago, but it gets a little taller than I would like. What would be a lower-growing option for a low maintenance yard?


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Dutch White Clover is what many people are using. It maxes out at about 8 inches high. There are some "Mini Clovers" and "Micro Clovers" that max out at about 4 inches high, but you will fall over in shock when you see the price of those - something like $80 for only 5 pounds, and 1-2 pounds only covers 1,000 square feet.

I was serious about thinking Durana would be a pretty good option. Mine grows fairly low, but I've not measured it. This is my Durana food plot at my farm a few days after I mowed it with a lawn mower set at about 4 inches this spring:

 

[KDdid]

I’ve had thoughts of a white clover lawn, especially in areas further from the houses. I planted ladino in my garden walkways a couple of years ago, but it gets a little taller than I would like. What would be a lower-growing option for a low maintenance yard?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Dutch White Clover is what many people are using. It maxes out at about 8 inches high. There are some "Mini Clovers" and "Micro Clovers" that max out at about 4 inches high, but you will fall over in shock when you see the price of those - something like $80 for only 5 pounds, and 1-2 pounds only covers 1,000 square feet.

I was serious about thinking Durana would be a pretty good option. Mine grows fairly low, but I've not measured it. This is my Durana food plot at my farm a few days after I mowed it with a lawn mower set at about 4 inches this spring:

Yikes! I was just looking at “micro” clover online, but hadn’t gotten to the sticker shock yet. White Dutch and Durana are sounding pretty good about now...
There’s a lot of low growing clover in my yard currently, probably a holdover from when this part of the yard was orchard and used to pasture sheep.


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[Native Hunter]

Why not a Creeping Charlie yard?

• Can't accidentally be killed by any herbicides.
• Only grows 1 inch tall so never needs mowing.
• Seeds itself and seed are free.
• Needs no fertilize
• Needs no maintenance
• Disease free
• Spray all your grass with Cleth and watch it take off even more. It's already choked out most of the grass anyway, so just help it get the rest.

 

[KDdid]

Why not a Creeping Charlie yard?

• Can't accidentally be killed by any herbicides.
• Only grows 1 inch tall so never needs mowing.
• Seeds itself and seed are free.
• Needs no fertilize
• Needs no maintenance
• Disease free
• Spray all your grass with Cleth and watch it take off even more. It's already choked out most of the grass anyway, so just help it get the rest.

Talk about “outside the box “, can you even see the box from where you are!?
I’m thinking clover as an offering to the rabbit gods in exchange for them leaving my pea and green bean plantings alone. I thought the fence around my garden had small enough openings to keep ol’ Brer Rabbit out, until I surprised one out by my spruce trees, and watched it run through my fence like it wasn’t there!

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[bigbendmarine]

Got patches of medic growing in both my yard and up through my gravel roadbed that leads to my pond. Deer absolutely will browse it, or at least do in my neck of the woods at times.

As for white clover in the yard, I LOVE the patches I have. Thankfully we live out of sight of any neighbors, so neither the wife nor I have any vanity over comparing our yard to the Jones's. Young daughter does run barefoot in the backyard enough I haven't yet considered trying to fully convert (stepped on a bee or two in clover myself growing up) but soon as she's grown out of the age of visiting her back yard swing every day I seriously think I might seed my entire yard.

 

[chickenlittle]

Lots of Creeping Charlie in my backyard. Plus dandelions, crab grass, nutsedge, plantain, and clovers. Plus some knotweed and pigweeds in the garden.

My neighbors probably hate me for the dandelion refuge.

 

[j-bird]

I hit my yard one year with some crossbow to kill all the broadleaf weeds in it. A few weeks later the wife complained , "What the #@$% did you do to the yard?" I told her I killed the weeds. She claimed I killed half the yard.....we where both right!

 

[Barndog56]

Don't use red clover. There's a bunch of it growing all over my lawn. In the middle of a hot, dry summer when the grass stops growing, the red clover keeps going. So I still have to mow the lawn just to cut the clover.

 

[yoderjac]

Why not a Creeping Charlie yard?

• Can't accidentally be killed by any herbicides.
• Only grows 1 inch tall so never needs mowing.
• Seeds itself and seed are free.
• Needs no fertilize
• Needs no maintenance
• Disease free
• Spray all your grass with Cleth and watch it take off even more. It's already choked out most of the grass anyway, so just help it get the rest.

Only because I'd like it to be wildlife friendly. I'm not a big advocate of Ryegrass for food plots. It is not high on the deer preference list and it can almost become invasive in my area and hard to get rid of in a food plot. Having said that, I like it a lot more than fescue. I wonder if a mix of high sucrose perennial or reseeding annual ryegrass mixed with Durana would be a wildlife friendly choice for a yard. We are always swimming against the current when we plant monocultures...