With the 1987 publication of “The New American Garden,” author Carole Ottesen advocated a new American landscape style, illustrated in her book by photographs of “magnificent ground cover,” mass plantings of low-maintenance herbaceous perennials. The idea was to replace ubiquitous expanses of high-maintenance lawn with a “meadow look” using broad sweeps of Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), lavender, ornamental grasses, achilleas, tall sedums and the like.

The design concepts fostered by Ottesen’s book flourished. Garden centers across the country began selling the perennials popularized by the book and by their own display gardens. Now, after nearly two decades, I look back at my own enthusiasm for this style of gardening with chagrin, for few of the grasses and herbaceous perennials that were popularized by this movement were regionally native anywhere in the United States. We were creating a “new American garden” using largely European and Oriental plants!

It seems obvious to me now that we should not spend time trying to define an American gardening style. Our country is too large, too geographically diverse, for such an effort. We should be striving for regionally unique landscapes. Every public or private landscape in Maine should reflect the unique natural beauty of this region of America.

Still, some of the core concepts developed by “The New American Garden” ring true today. Wide expanses of turf grass are ecologically unfriendly and aesthetically banal.

And ground cover chosen to replace the lawn does not have to be low and evergreen. Groupings of regionally native plants of varying heights and colors can help create landscapes that are low in maintenance, intellectually stimulating and far more ecologically functional than a monoculture of either turf grass or pachysandra.

A favorite photograph that serves as an example of “magnificent native ground cover” shows little Lynne standing in the shade of tall spruce and fir, surrounded by patches of flowering bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), low-bush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium), and native ferns. While this looks like a scene from the Maine woods, actually it is a home landscape that is managed less by planting than by selective removal of unwanted plants and nourishment of those left to grow. During the day, as patches of sunlight move across this mosaic of colors and textures, the white flowers of bunchberry capture the light and reflect it from the shadows. Fern fronds glow in the sun flecks. Bees work the blueberries.

Equally stimulating garden scenes can be created with ground cover combinations that occur in plant communities throughout our regional natural areas. In the dappled shade of the woodland garden, try combining goldthread, wintergreen, and bunchberry. In sunnier spots, grow sweet fern with Northern bush honeysuckle. Or combine lambkill kalmia, lowbush blueberry, and hayscented fern.

As we reduce the size of our lawn areas or eliminate them altogether in our effort to create landscapes that are both low in maintenance and ecologically functional, we should remember the advice of Alexander Pope: “Consult the Genius of the Place in all ways.” We should study regional plant communities for inspiration in ground-cover plantings.

Suggested native ground covers

By no means a complete list, here are a few suggested native ground covers, both woody and herbaceous, for shady and sunny sites. Note that some species appear in both lists, a reflection of their tolerance for a wide range of site conditions.

Native groundcovers for shady sites

Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense), 6 inches.

Sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina), 3 feet.

Goldthread (Coptis trifolia ssp. Groenlandica), 3 inches.

Bunchberry (Cornus canadense), 6 inches.

*Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), 4 inches.

Lambkill kalmia (Kalmia angustifolia), 3 feet.

*Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens), 2 inches.

Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia), 12 inches.

Labrador violet (Viola labradorica), 4 inches.

Lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), 18 inches.