I have at least 8 species of grass on my property, over half of them native, more if you include things that are not grass but someone called grass, like blue-eyed grass. Y'all, the takeaway from "lawns bad" should not be "grass bad" but that lawns are bad. Here in the US they're made up of grasses that are invasive species with super shallow root systems that do nothing to improve the underlying soil. Mowing them to keep them short exacerbates this tendency.

Look at this chart. Look at the root systems on the native grasses. Then look all the way over to the left to the thing your eyes skipped over. That's turf grass.

Grass is not bad. Lawns are bad. Better to have 5 species of native grass than a bunch of invasive wildflowers. Get rid of lawn ordinances. Lobby your city/county/HOA to stop mandating them today.

*busts through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man* AND HAVE YOU HEARD THE GOSPEL OF SEDGES?!

Yes, the lowly sedge, Genus Carex, looks like a grass to most people, an absolute ecosystem engineer of a plant. If you gotta have something that looks like grass because you’re dealing with people who fear change, consider sedges! There’s one native to your region! Yes, yours too! Unless you’re reading from McMurdo! And it probably won’t need the watering a lawn does! And a bunch of species will grow in shade! Yes, deep shade! Yes, under oak trees! I have personally done this!

And sedges are hosts for many caterpillar species! And stuff eats the seed heads!