The Striking Ground Cover You Shouldn't Grow (And Here Is What You Should Plant Instead)

Finding an outstanding ground cover for your yard can have some pitfalls, especially if you make the wrong choice and select something like Japanese bloodgrass (Imperata cylindrica). Although this is quite a striking grass-like ground cover, you shouldn't grow it in your garden because it's regarded as the seventh worst weed in the entire world. Moreover, it's listed as a noxious weed by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. This means you should steer clear of it, no matter where you live in the United States. Also known as cogongrass, the Invasive Plant Atlas describes it as an ecological threat because of its ability to invade a range of areas due to its dense and aggressive growth.

Not only that, but Japanese bloodgrass is also highly flammable and poses an enormous risk if wildfires occur. But, even if burned, it will regenerate easily and cover a wide area in a short span of time. However, if you're looking for a ground cover with similar grass-like growth, there are plenty of native alternatives you might like to consider instead. These include panic grass, prairie beard grass, Indiangrass, and bluestem. They all have a similar growth form but are not invasive, although three of them are highly flammable. Or, you might want to explore other types of evergreen ground covers for stunning color all year round, such as mondo grass, woodland stonecrop, or bearberry.

A lovely native species you might like to grow is prairie beard grass (Schizachyrium scoparium). It's a warm season grass that forms clumps and has a height and spread of up to 4 feet. Prairie beard grass can be grown in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 9 and will tolerate a full range of soil types. It's an attractive plant with fine grass-like foliage that can take on a bluish tinge in summer and turn a stunning copper in the fall. This is the only one of the four varieties mentioned that's not considered flammable. Plus, it's one of the best types of prairie grasses you can grow to add privacy to your yard or patio.

Panic grass (Panicum virgatum), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), and bluestem (Andropogon ternarius) are all flammable, so keep that in mind when you're planting an area close to your home. However, they are excellent clumping ground covers with heights from 2 to 7 feet. All can be grown in zones 5 to 9. Panic grass exhibits a bluish tinge in summer and produces tall flower panicles with pinkish tips, while Indiangrass has yellow flower panicles that appear in late summer. Bluestem is the smallest of the four species but has the most stunning fluffy, silvery seed heads in the fall. You'll find that all these native ground covers are host plants for a variety of butterfly larvae. Plus, these are unique types of grasses to plant in your yard that birds can't resist.