why not birdsfoot trefoil in lawn?

I see a lot of people add clover to their lawn....why not birds foot trefoil? I see it growing along the roadsides among the grass It seems to tolerate mowing as well as clover, it fixes nitrogen, and makes nice yellow flowers for weeks. Is there a reason it's not used the same way as clover in a lawn?

Alex

Alex, I never heard of it and didn't know it is a nitrogen fixer - so that is something that I will add to my lawn as soon as I find out whether or not it will grow in my area. I prefer as much diversity as possible so the more plants the merrier!

I do not have land (yet), but I am fascinated by birdsfoot trefoil as an alternative to a grass lawn. Like so many area, we here in Quebec are suffering from a really nasty drought and all of the lawns have died. Meanwhile, the birdsfoot trefoil is doing fine. My uncle has it on his farm and it is one of the few plants that is still growing. I think it would make for a nice alternative to grass. It doesn't grow more than 20 cm high is the best conditions, and really wouldn't require any mowing, fertilizing etc., which seems more ecological, less time consuming and SO much prettier than grass. If I did have land, I would plant this stuff and feed it to my rabbits; they love the stuff!

Trefoil is one of my favourite wild flowers There's quite a few varieties if my memory serves so, if birds food trefoil ain't suitable for your conditions, another trefoil might be.

I'll second Tanya's comment- here in Iowa, we are in a severe deought, but the birdsfoor trefoil seems totally uneffected. It's the healthiest thing growing around here right now!

Hello Alex,
I'm guessing this reply is much too late for you, but it may help someone else.  I am using bird's foot trefoil as the basis for a boulevard lawn that is very exposed to the full sun and composed of very sandy poor soil.  The trefoil keeps everything green in the heat and drought.  It is much more drought hardy than clover although clover is the next best.  I have a mixture of grasses, bird's foot trefoil, and clovers, as well as violets, cinquefoil, Indian strawberries, autumn hawkbit, and thousands of scilla in the spring.

Bird's foot trefoil is salt resistant, grows in compacted, non-fertile soil, adds nitrogen to other plants as well as itself, does not overrun other species, and as you have seen stays green in heat and drought; plus it has beautiful yellow flowers - what's not to love???

There are a few problems getting it started in a well-tended lawn, however.  The seedlings grow very slowly and do not compete well with other plants.  I read that it cannot be transplanted; after 2 summers of fruitlessly trying to do so.  It needs to be not mowed shorter than 3 inches, and 4 or 5 inches is much better.  Especially until plants are well established for about 3 years.  After that I have mowed it as short as 2 1/2 inches to hold it back and let the grass and clover grow up through it.  I changed the 8 inch wheels on my lawnmower to 10 inch ones so I have a 2 1/2 inch to 5 inch cutting range....One more thing....it does not store carbs in the roots for overwintering during the summer growing season, but starts to do so after Sept. 1st.  until the end of Oct.  So it needs to be left long then as well.

It does lose all its foliage with a hard frost as does clover, so I use it with regular lawn grass to have turf when the snow melts in March, April, and May.

I am "all in" with bird'sfoot trefoil but I haven't stopped looking for other plants that are also drought resistant which would do well in a lawn.  Two years ago some yellow sweet clover appeared on its own in my lawn and I've been trying to use it as well.  First, the good news.  It is even more drought resistant, hardy, ground improving, etc.  It is O.K. with salt, low fertility, heat, drought, wet, clay, sand, you name it!  It accumulates phosphorus as well as nitrogen.  Now the problems:  I've been broadcasting the seeds from the donor plants that arrived on their own with not too much success.  I had the same problem with the bird'sfoot trefoil - collecting thousands of seeds and broadcasting them everywhere but only now 5 years later having maybe half the amount of plants I want to end up with.  So yesterday I bought 500 g of bird'sfoot seed and 500 g of sweet yellow clover seed to try a new method of getting them started in my pretty lush by now weed lawn.  The seller advises only to plant them in the spring and neither one likes much competition.  I want to start them now and they will have lots of competition whenever I plant them.  I will post in a few weeks if my new method works to get them going where I actually want them...

Anyway, back to the problem with yellow sweet clover.  It is a biennial.  It grows a lot of root the first year.  Then in the second year it grows a high 2 ft to 3 ft stalk of clover leaves and beautiful flowers and dies!  It is a forage crop but if grazed too close to the ground, it dies.  And if not grazed close enough, it blooms and dies.  If grazed just the right amount, it has prodigious growth.  I figure with the right lawnmower setting I can make this work in a lawn.  Also some has to be let go to seed to start future growth.  I have 3 trees that I don't mow close to which I already use for tall weeds that have beautiful flowers and weeds that I want to go to seed so I can handle that.  Seeds persist in the soil for many years.  I won't know for a year or two how this is going to work out....

Ray