Border Plants for No-Mow Grass

Shrubs

• Slow-growing shrubs with dense foliage create attractive borders and require less pruning than fast-growing varieties. Choose evergreens for year-round color. Junipers (Juniperus spp.) provide hedging with their dense, awl-shaped foliage and tolerate full sun and dry, rocky soils. Choices include the Canadian juniper (Juniperus communis "Depressa"), which grows to 4 feet tall with a similar spread. This evergreen has ascending branch tips and gray- to blue-green foliage. Lavender (Lavandula stoechas) also grows slowly but has aromatic, gray-green foliage and purple flowers. This evergreen grows to 3 feet tall with a similar spread. It thrives in full sun and well-drained soil.

Ornamental Grasses

• Like a no-mow lawn, ornamental grasses require little maintenance. These versatile plants grow to a maximum size, so don't require pruning, and generally don't need much fertilizer. Many are also drought resistant, and their fibrous root systems help reduce erosion and runoff around the yard. Broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus) grows to 4 feet tall in a upright clump of green foliage that turns red, orange and purple in autumn. It thrives in full sun and tolerates a range of soils. Weeping love grass (Eragrostis curvula) also grows well in sunny sites and a range of soils. It reaches heights to 3 feet and has fine green foliage that turns yellow and copper in winter. Weeping love grass blooms with pale purple inflorescences in midsummer.

Ground Covers

• Ground covers form dense mats of foliage, helping to keep your no-mow lawn contained. Choices for lawn borders include bearberry (Arcrostaphy los uva-uisi), a native evergreen that grows from 1 to 4 inches tall and forms a thick carpet of tear-shaped foliage. Bearberry thrives in sunny, well-drained soil and blooms with pink flowers in spring. Cranberry cotoneaster (Cotoneaster apiculatus) spreads to 6 feet wide and has dark, evergreen foliage. It is named for the clusters of bright-red berries it produces in autumn.

Perennials

• Perennial borders require more maintenance -- such as weeding, deadheading and dividing -- than ornamental grasses or shrubs. However, with some planning, they offer color throughout the growing season. Choose perennials that bloom at different times for constant color. The oaxalis (Oxalis crassipes) blooms in spring then reblooms in fall with deep pink to white blossoms. They grow to 12 inches tall and thrive in full sun and dry to moist soil. White ginger (Hedychium coronarium) produces white flowers from summer to late fall. This 4- to 5-foot-tall perennial grows well in full sun and moist soil. Bluebeards (Caryopteris spp.) bloom in late summer and fall with clusters of bright-blue flowers that last up to two months. They grow to 4 feet tall and prefer full sun and well-drained soil.