Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

That’s a pretty big order. You seem to want a play space for your children and use a grass that will look like St. Augustine and survive mowing.  And the pecan trees are sucking up the water and nitrogen and leaving a pretty shady, dry, barren space for other plants and are also producing juglone, a substance toxic to many plants.

You will probably have to make some compromises or just put in a beautiful mulch that will give your children a safe play space and cut back on your yard work. You might also consider building wide paths and play destinations and use mulch as the surface. Then plant the rest of the area.

Now the plant choices: You could use one of these or all of them combined in various ways.

For a low grass-substitute that will seldom/never need mowing, a Carex species will probably work best for you.  Some take light foot traffic and can be mowed at a high setting.  (Or you can forget mowing because they stay short and might make a nice texture change against the St. Augustine grass). 

Some of your choices include:

• Eastern woodland sedge
• Texas Sedge   - Most Carex species are propagated by plugs but I see in this reference that seeds are available for this species which will make is cheaper and easier to start.  On the down side, sedges are often difficult to find in nurseries.

You also might want to research other sedges mentioned in the next citations.

Here is a interesting article on Carex lawns.

And the book, Easy Lawns, by John Greenlee, has a good discussion on sedges and will give you more choices. And it discusses them in terms of grass substitutes in the lawn.

Another really beautiful grass is Inland Sea Oats.  An ornamental plant, Inland Sea Oats is not a lawn grass but you might want to lay some pavers and make a little sitting area and then plant this where you can enjoy it against the western sun as you sit and sip your mimosa or Bud. Or against the eastern sun as you drink your coffee.   It doesn’t need mowing except in February when you can cut it back with a string trimmer or a very high mower. I’ve also seen it used all along a shaded path. This is very easy to grow from seed.  

For a non-grass but tough little plant that takes foot traffic and mowing and will probably survive under your pecan tree, you might want to try horseherb. This has been considered a weed but is gaining in popularity in native gardens as it is tough, attractive, takes foot traffic and mowing and attracts some butterflies.  And the good news is that you may already have it and just need to transplant it.  One Houston nursery, Joshua’s Native Plants, carries it.  They also have Inland Sea Oats.

Carex blanda

Carex texensis

Chasmanthium latifolium

Calyptocarpus vialis