I feel like I’m about to step into an opinion minefield today. Deciding to do a clover lawn in one area of the property has been oddly polarizing. I’m not an expert, so don’t use me as your sole point of research, but we did opt for a clover lawn instead of traditional turf this time, and today I’ll talk about why (and how I feel about it). I’ve wanted clover forever, but I was alone in the past. So many experts (both in person and online) think it’s a fantastic new alternative to lawns, and other experts in the field (LOL) say it will ruin your landscaping that you’ve just invested in. My typical approach (on anything) is to do a ton of research and then realize that, like everything, it’s nuanced, depends on a lot of things, and lands somewhere in the middle. I also generally try to listen to people with the most real-world experience in anything, and yet sometimes old-school folks don’t want to risk something new because they’ve been trained to hate it. With clover, apparently, farmers used to love it, then “big herbicide” demonized clover as a weed, and the rest is history. Four years ago, during phase 1, I proposed a clover lawn after being heavily influenced by commenters during our artificial turf conversation in Arrowhead (which I don’t regret for one second, btw – it absolutely made sense for the no-irrigation-allowed dry landscaping). Up here in Oregon, I was met by “Clover instead of grass? Are you nuts?” But I was uneducated (outside of internet searching) and outnumbered, so I didn’t fight for my clover lawn. Grass it was. And listen, grass lawns thrive in Oregon, we have a lot of rain, 8-9 months of the year, and many people don’t irrigate at all. I love our grass lawns, mixed a bit naturally with clover, and totally imperfect. Last weekend we had six families over for a full day BBQ that went until 11 pm, where 16 kids played ghosts in the graveyard, gymnastics, soccer, frisbee, and football for HOURS. Grass is best for this. Does it take a lot of water in the summer? Yep. But we invested in recommissioning our well, which is what we irrigate with. Could we have done a clover lawn instead? Maybe! But we recently seeded clover by the paddock, and today we are discussing it all. Keep reading to check it out.
There is a new movement that is certainly against the traditional lawn. Like so many things right now, the loudest voices seem to be passionately against what most of us have deemed kinda normal, causing us to critically rethink it all. From what I’ve researched and learned, here are the points that seem to make sense to me:
Oh, but then there’s the “no-lawn” movement, which is a mix of pea gravel, DG, and low-drought shrubs, which can look great in a front yard, but doesn’t make sense for a lot of families. Clover lawn versus a grass lawn felt like a real alternative. I’m sure in many areas, all the above points are very true (I’ve never been a “perfect green lawn” person, I’m from rural Oregon). But, the vibe of many of the articles can often be pretentious, as if those of us who want a lawn are just for “suburban show” – it’s not. For us, at least, so much life happens on lawns with young kids, and in Oregon, it thrives without extra water almost year-round. It is mostly set it and forget it. Or maybe we are just basic :)
The hype towards having a clover lawn is this:
This seems to be more anecdotal, but both a traditionally trained former landscaper of ours and our trusted maintenance guy, Domingo (who has been taking care of Oregon yards for 30 years), both painted a potential horror picture of intentionally using clover. They claimed clover lawns will take over everything – lawns, garden beds, and would choke out pretty shrubs and annuals. And when you have two experts with decades of different types of experience warning you not to do something, you listen, right? But what if they care about lawns in a way that I don’t? We like a more natural, rustic vibe. I don’t mind clover mixed in with our turf – in fact, I LIKE IT. We like overgrown and wild. We do NOT like manicured (I even hate when they edge the lawn, TBH). At the same time, we planted these gorgeous beds full of perennials that need to thrive!
P.S. This is our new area that I really don’t want to get ruined, and you can see the clover in the back just starting to grow.
As you know for stage 2 of our landscaping, we hired Dennis’ 7 Dees to redesign the area under the old sport court and to make the area by the barn and paddock simply better (and truly couldn’t have been happier). Eric sent through the design plan below:
We loved the original plan – a mix of flagstone, trees, shrubs, and perennials. But the $$$ numbers were higher than we wanted, and Brian and I panicked. We quickly prioritized our budget and deprioritized the area at the top, along the split rail fence by the barn. It just wasn’t that important to us. Sure, we didn’t want it to look like garbage, but that area in and of itself was going to cost $40k – demo, irrigation, a ton of stonework, planting, trees, shrubs, lighting, etc. Here’s what that area looked like before:
Every winter it was green, wild, and full of weeds (which we didn’t mind, TBH), and every summer it was so dry and ugly (which we did mind). But this area is more utility – it’s where Brian wheelbarrows the food to the animals, and kids stand on the fence to feed the animals. It didn’t need to be pretty, just better than it was.
Could this be the clover opportunity I’ve been waiting for?? So this time I relied heavily on Dennis’ 7 Dees to help us make our clover decision. They confirmed all of the above and gave us even more insight.
DONE. We were into it. Let’s save some dough, make our yard look more natural, and feed those bees and soil at the same time.
Eric and Dennis’ 7 Dees came back with this specific recommendation (because they are pros): “PT 755 Fleur de Lawn, a premium eco-lawn seed blend that includes micro-clover and a mix of flowering, low-growing species. It’s designed to be drought-tolerant, pollinator-friendly, and soft underfoot—perfect for areas where a traditional lawn might not make sense”. Sounded GREAT to me. This whole area cost $3k, whereas the original plan was obviously much much more.
Since we were hiring out for this, they did it professionally – demoing out the lawn, bringing in new/better soil, leveling it all for draining, soil, then waiting for spring to spread the seed. No irrigation. Our job would be to mist it daily for 10 minutes when it didn’t rain to establish the seeds (which was hard to remember, TBH). Here’s what it looks like 3 months in:
I LOVE IT. It makes me so happy. This is probably because I’m from rural Oregon and it just reminds me of my childhood. Here are a few things to keep in mind from the experts:
Maintenance in Oregon:
Seasonal Care Rhythm:
Why Dennis’ 7 Dees Recommends It In Certain Projects:
“Clover and eco lawns aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution, but they’re a great option for large, low-traffic areas where sustainability and simplicity matter. We’re always looking for ways to reduce inputs (water, fertilizer, labor) and support pollinators—this choice checks all those boxes while still feeling beautiful and thoughtful. It’s a ‘Design with nature, not against it’ approach.”
If you aren’t done talking about clover yet, here is more from our current account manager, Emily Smiley (how great is her name??):
“The great clover debate is real. Lawn purists say it’s weedy and wild; environmentalists say lawns are outdated, period. I say: know your goals and choose what serves your space best. Sometimes that’s a manicured lawn. Sometimes it’s a pollinator meadow. And sometimes, it’s a patch of clover that costs a fraction of traditional landscaping and makes your yard feel intentional. Clover isn’t perfect, but neither is turf. As a landscape designer and gardener, I believe in designing with nature; not against it. This specific choice softens the space, supports Natural Pollinators(!!) and reduces our environmental footprint without giving up on aesthetic beauty.”
“This isn’t a turf replacement—it’s a true eco-lawn that works with the seasons, not against them.”
I couldn’t be happier. BIG FAN. In some places, it’s taller? Other places it’s more like ground cover. I love how it looks soft and natural, bright green, and easy. Imperfect, wild, but not out of control, and just so appropriate for our space. It is taking over the boxwood a bit, which we can’t tell if we care about (we put in those shrubs after the clover as a ball barrier), so we might carve out a moat around those plants with mulch. Easy fix. All in all, we love it. Now, if we could just plant it in that brown paddock, without the alpacas and pigs eating it before it could grow (which would never happen – such pigs!).
*Photos by Kaitlin Green
The atmosphere is so peaceful on the photos! It’s just marvelous, love it!
Good content! Looks like it was the perfect area to do it in. How does it handle the foot traffic by the paddock entrance?
So cool! I really like how you’ve presented the debate and the gotchas around this kind of thing. It IS controversial and a surprisingly hot topic. Where I live in London (fairly similar climate to Oregon, and to Seattle where I’m from but probably closer to OR in terms of summer heat potential) it’s tricky – our garden is really small, and only parts of it get direct sunlight, so having the same exact stuff seeded throughout wouldn’t work because there isn’t a good one-size-fits-all option for all levels of damp/moist/shady and scorched/parched/sunny that this space will inevitably get. And I definitely don’t have the budget for true irrigation and don’t want to deal with too much watering anyway, for environmental as well as financial and practical reasons. My current situation is Astroturf the owners already installed, on top of sand which is clogging the drain (WTF‽) and then a mix of concrete and tile, but we haven’t yet pulled up the astroturf to find out how MUCH concrete and thus how much jackhammering. I also have a neighbour whose garden developed a massive and slightly geologically scary sinkhole that two different experts couldn’t find the cause of – so… Read more »
I’m pretty sure we have that chineese thing! It seems to prefer coming up in between the brick walks the most, fyi. But love it. One thing about clover, it does die back in the winter so we have some bare patches in early spring while the clover gets set up. On the other hand, it’s much more drought and traffic tolerant than grass so we enjoy the green patches when the grass dies back in August drought /under the bike onslought in September. I think the key as you said is having a great mix to every species can find it’s particular niche. It will also vary by year. I too want to avoid the yellow, but the dandylions have killed that particular dream.
Love it. We used to live in an urban neighborhood with no HOA. Some people had perfectly manicured lawns, but a lot of people had both grass and clover. I miss it so much. Also, my daughter’s super power is finding four leaf clovers – she finds them all the time, five leaf clovers too. Miss her being able to do that in our own yard. I love our home, but suburban life is soul crushing at times.
Aw, this is a really great article on this topic. Thanks, Emily! I will admit to cringing a little when I saw the title, but you did an excellent job of breaking down when and where and how a clover lawn works. I work in the “green industry” and get asked about lawn alternatives a lot. There is nuance to the answer, as you said, and you managed to touch on the complexity, while still providing valuable information and clarity. Well done!
ah thank you :) I will take that compliment. I was strangely nervous to press publish!
LOOOVE that clover lawn! Your clover is lovely and a nice snack for any livestock too. Another option for lawns is fescue grass, which is what my dad has.Having inherited a hilly lawn that used to be filled with chemical laden grass, and being someone who hates chemicals, my lawn now is a hot mess. I am slowly taking it over with garden beds, and allowing patches of clover and moss to flourish where they can. Thinking of plants, you can always do a kids’ planting activity and plant hardy native plants in a bed: black eyed Susans, coneflowers, baptista, catmint, sage, rugosa roses. Roses of any kind will go crazy in your house, I imagine fragrant reblooming climbing roses on your walkway posts…Getting into gardening is the best – it scratches my old thrift shopping itch!
You don’t have rose rosette virus where you live?
I think if there aren’t a ton of multiflora roses in the area, it’s not a huge problem. Although I do think it’s a good practice to mix roses with other (often fragrant) plants to discourage pests and disease. I’ve often had good luck with antique rose varieties as well.
I do have rose rosette here but I pick it off and keep going. Rosette takes a while to kill roses. The bigger issue is voles. .. Still I don’t mind these issues when I have a big climbing climbing roses filling the entire garden with gorgeous fragrance
I would love to hear from folks who live in drier climates that have used clover. I do live in Oregon, but EASTern Oregon is not the beautiful Willamette Valley that Emily lives in.
You should contact your local extension office and see what they recommend!
We have a tough yard for grass. It’s shady and dry because of big trees with water-sucking root systems. We have a dog who runs around in the yard and, of course, pees on the grass. We planted white clover a couple of years ago to help fill in bare spots, enrich the soil, and be more pollinator friendly. It hasn’t been a panacea, but it has succeeded in some of the places where the grass didn’t. The flowers are very pretty! Overall, I’d recommend mixing it in if you already have a grass lawn for a best-of-both worlds approach. Excited to see clover promoted here! And yes, clover was considered a beneficial lawn plant until the invention of broadleaf weedkillers that couldn’t distinguish between clover and other things you might less excited about having grow amongst your grass. So herbicide companies encouraged people to think of it as something they should want to get rid of.
I’ve done the same, overseeded with both grass and clover and in the shadier areas the lawn is mostly clover, and where it’s sunnier it’s more grass. I love it! It does creep into the garden beds occasionally but I wouldn’t say it’s an aggressive weed at all, I’d say grass spreading in the beds is just as common and they’re similarly easy to pull out / trim back to where they belong. I’m in Toronto so a little drier / hotter/colder than Oregon but still a pretty moderate climate.
For anyone looking for groundcover please do NOT plant goutweed – I still see ornamental varieties for sale at nurseries and it blows my mind. Now there’s a plant that will take over your beds and then some, and is next to impossible to eradicate.
On the other hand I do have violets slowly spreading through my grass/clover lawn (in both shade and sun) and they’re the loveliest. Highly recommend dotting a few in a lawn for the prettiest spring carpet.
Wait now I want clover! And the lawn debate is real! Glad you explained it so succinctly!
I think the whole thing is a very American hang-up with grass that is just weird! So many other places, if it’s green and you mow it, it’s a lawn. I think it’s probably a pretty small sub-set of propertly owners hung-up with only having a monculture of a particular species on your plot (grass, and one particular type of grass at that) is what’s caused a lot of the intense chemical and fertilizer use, again among a minority of property owners. We currently live on the east coast of the US, we have green stuff that the kids play on, and we mow it. Never realized that this was controversial, and I know for a fact it requires no water, chemicals or fertilizer. It’s also a thriving mini ecosystem in it’s own right. Here in the suburbs, I would say at least 60% of people take this approach. It’s when you start paying a lawn service, and they need to justify their rates, that you run into problems. Would love to see a ban on most of these herbicides and pesticides, and the perfect lawn goes the way of DDT, and we’ll continue to call the green stuff that… Read more »
Where I live in the mid-west on a Great Lake, most lawns are naturally comprised of both grass and clover. Our grass is also green almost all year round without watering. I also don’t know of anyone participating in the “lawn debate” – probably because grass grows so easily here. We have trees, and gardens and many people intentionally planting food for butterflies, bees and hummingbirds, which is lovely (and a lot of fun to watch).
I do think the grass debate make sense in places like Nevada or California, where grass lawns wouldn’t naturally be green year round and take up precious water resources. But it’s fun to hear what different people are doing/thinking about across the country. We have so many different climates!
The “grass debate” matters everywhere because grass lawns do very little to support the ecosystem. Obviously the concerns are different, but even in places with abundant water it’s still better for the local flora and fauna to have some amount of native plants, even if you do maintain some amount of lawn for recreation
Lawns account for an estimated 40 to 65 millions acres of land in the US and are the single largest irrigated crop here. There is no ecosystem in a lawn.
I live in NW Portland (900ft elevation), it’s a rural area. While we have public water, the rest of the area is on private wells. The climate has changed in Oregon – it’s becoming much hotter. I remember a few years ago we had a few days of 115 degree weather (hopefully that’s a rare occurrence) – and it typically doesn’t rain in summer (unless I plan a BBQ). Our garden is a mix of grass, clover (unintended), weeds. I don’t know anyone with irrigation here – most people with wells don’t want to waste their water on grass – we just let it go dormant during the summer months (Portland water is really expensive, so we don’t water either). We’ve decided we’ll just let nature do it’s thing – let the grass runs it’s cycle unaided.
I do think that is super typical. Honestly we shoot the house year round and we have a well so we irrigate with it to keep things green, but i love that there is no shade (LOL) if your grass is dormant in August. and yes water is so expensive here! i had no idea. like why? In literal Oregon? I heard its coming down, BTW. read it in the paper :)
So lovely! Feels like a great spot for a clover lawn. We planted clover in the front lawn of our house here in Portland. What we didn’t expect was how tall it would grow. Up to 2′ in some spots! I’m not sure if we planted the wrong kind of clover? Or if it just really liked that spot? But we still had to mow. We ended up changing up the yard and doing stones and a mix of (mostly native) plants (still no lawn). But if I had a space like this I would absolutely plant a clover field again!
Usually you use a “micro clover” blend designed not to grow too high (and with smaller leaves) for “lawns”! We planted one years ago at a property we no longer own and it was awesome.
IIf you are worried about occasional mowing, have you consider *micro* clover? I heard that it has all the clover benefit and no mowing needed.
I tried microclover and for the first generation, it looked great! But unfortunately it doesn’t breed true and the clover lawn ended up reverting to full-size clover within a year or so. Still looked fine but someone at the garden center said this is pretty common with microclover.
Oh interesting! Saw this immediately after mentioned micro clover in a reply above. We seeded with a micro clover blend and in the years after until we sold that place it stayed small, but we did mow it a few times/year. Maybe once in late spring and once more in the summer? I know the mix we used had several species; I wonder that helps them stay small?
I also live in the PNW and tried the cover lawn a few years back. I found it basically on par with minimally tended grass for upkeep and looks. Clover thins in summer just like unwatered grass, leaving bare, ugly patches of dirt. Okay in the backyard, but not so attractive in the front. So if you want green you still have to water. Clover DOES spread like mad and forms thick matts that are hard to fully eradicate. My crocuses and other bulbs didn’t do as well with the clover only. A clover mono culture is just as much a pain as grass monoculture, imo. Over time, I have realized grass is not the enemy. It is lovely, useful and helps keep the yard and house cool. I just don’t expect the perfect lawn. I let the clover mix in and don’t fuss too much about the other weeds (except buttercup, the bane of my existence). I fertilize twice a year with an organic fertilizer I mix myself (Steve Solomon recipe). I water once a week or every two weeks in the hottest days to maintain greenish in the front, but otherwise let the rain take care of watering.… Read more »
Really lovely clover lawn and learned a lot about the differences! This is a website comment, but I actually liked the dates and the comment count at the top. Is this something you’re planning on bringing back? Thanks!
working on it! :)
This is soooo timely. I was literally just researching clover lawns and I think I’m also going to pull the trigger on seeding portions of my lawn. Mostly front yard and keep a grass clover mix in the back for the kids and dogs. Thanks for this!
Thank you for promoting clover! It’s pretty and beneficial. In the Southeast, perennial peanut is starting to gain attention finally as an alternative to grass that people spray and spray and spray. The perennial peanut blooms the prettiest little yellow flowers. I hope more and more people opt out of the regular lawn and herbicides especially.
I’m in Vancouver, BC. I have a small patch of clover lawn in my backyard. I do like the look of it, but in our rainy winters it disappears completely, just leaving a muddy patch behind. It does return in the spring. Overall, I wouldn’t repeat it. I don’t love the mud tracked into my house in the winter.
We leave our lawn natural and my daughter confirms that the clover areas are the best places to picnic on. It’s very lovely and it reminds us of being in England. Clover used to be a sign of a healthy lawn but agree, the herbicide companies over the years have marketed us into not liking clover and it’s truly a shame. We need to rethink what makes a lawn look beautiful and embrace clover again.
The yard looks beautiful!! I’d love to see a little more discussion about native plants here . . . while clover is definitely better than lawn from an ecological perspective, it’s not native to the U.S. and not ideal for pollinators. I enjoyed the perspective of your first landscaper regarding native plants and would love to see them considered/discussed further when we’re talking about landscaping. I think there’s room for lawn, clover, native and some non-native plants, but the availability of native plants is really key for pollinators and a lot of “pollinator-friendly” seed mixes, etc. are just greenwashing.
As someone who is also on a whole yard improvement journey I have been loving all this info! I find it hard to track down real details about outside spaces like we have for indoors. I have a small traditional lawn but have never had to water every day (even in the height of California 100+ summers). The one thing we all should agree upon is plastic turf is the worse thing we can do for the environment. If you are thinking about installing, please please do some research and find alternatives.
Coming from the last yard update I cant wait to hear the case against mulch!
I love your clover lawn. We have some clover mixed into our yard and I like it too. It is great for the ground and short. It hasn’t taken over our grass. Of course, quite a few other weeds are busy trying that instead!
If you have kids that run barefoot I would not recommend it. We had four foot bee stings in one summer. Maybe in a less trafficked area.
Agreed! My kids are mostly barefoot all summer and when half our yard was clover, we had bee stings all season.
Yep, growing up we had mixed grass/clover and bee stings from stepping on a bee in the clover were frequent.
I was going to comment this, the little blossoms are usually where bees hangout and become a barefoot or ankle sting hazard. We have some taking over, as we don’t use herbicides, which I love the look of, but with a bee sting allergy in the house — it is a concern. Just something for folks with littles to be aware of.
We keep bees and we want the bees to be able to enjoy our clover lawn so we just keep a pair of Crocs by the door for each kid. It takes them literally two seconds to slip them on and then we don’t have to worry about stings. (The kids still get plenty of barefoot time in the house and on the driveway when drawing with sidewalk chalk, etc.)
I see that the Fleur de Lawn mix 7 Dee’s used on your property is a special mix of grasses and flowering plants (no just clover). It sounds gorgeous, low maintenance and eco-friendly. The trifecta! Please post updates.
Here’s the list of various seed types included:
Perennial Ryegrass – Lolium perenne
Hard Fescue – Festuca trachyphylla
Quatro Tetraploid Sheep Fescue – Festuca ovina ‘Quatro’
White Yaak Yarrow – Achillea millefolium ‘Yaak’
White Clover – Trifolium repens
English Daisy – Bellis perennis
Sweet Alyssum – Lobularia maritima (annual)
Baby Blue Eyes – Nemophila menziessii (annual)
Strawberry Clover – Trifolium fragiferum
Go with clover, it is beautiful and great for the ecosystem. And don’t have any kids, they are bad for the environment and very disappointing.👍
I love clover! We let it take over the grass in our small Brooklyn backyard. It’s so soft and pretty.
the all-or-nothing approach of both sides of the lawn wars is a little bizarre, honestly I feel like people do it for clicks/engagement. For families in wetter climates a mix of natives and some sort of lawn for recreation probably makes the most sense. Lots of people have native front yards and lawn in the back where kids play with maybe a native/other border. In drought-prone areas the calculus is a bit different but you can still have some sort of central play area even if it’s not grass
There are native groundcovers, though! Native doesn’t have to equal unfriendly to lawn activities. My favorite one in my area is horse herb. It’s soft and stays low like clover. There are also really tough native groundcovers that can handle lots of foot traffic and play.
I’m glad people are branching out from traditional monoculture turf grasses to things like clover, AND I hope more people eventually start branching a liiiittle farther to native species that still check all the functional and aesthetic boxes.
What a wonderful article, and I’m so happy you are enjoying the clover planting. I’m just puzzled why you need to be so diplomatic about choosing the green alternative. However your conclusions are clear and I hope it inspires others.
Great analysis and balanced perspective, as ever. It looks wonderful. Yay for you two!!
We bought a farm last year with a ton of fields and yard. The yard is all clover with wild Thyme mixed in. It smells amazing. And I’ve never had so many bees and butterflies (and other insects) before. Highly recommend the wild Thyme.
Choosing a clover lawn over traditional grass was one of the best landscaping decisions we’ve made. Clover requires far less water, making it eco-friendly and cost-effective during dry seasons. It also naturally resists weeds, reducing the need for harsh chemical herbicides. Unlike grass, clover stays green even in hot summer months and feels soft underfoot—perfect for kids and pets to play on. Another big plus? Clover enriches the soil by fixing nitrogen, which means your lawn stays healthy without constant fertilizing. And since it doesn’t need frequent mowing, it’s lower maintenance overall. A clover lawn may not be the traditional choice, but
Lippia repens for the win! Also Santa Barbara Daisy, Erigeron karvinskianus, for a casual and pretty injection. I am a Landscape Architect with forty years in the industry. No plant is perfect — like people! — and I would be happy to engage further about this and the role of Lippia at my home, in my projects, and within the 40 acres of common area I manage for my HOA. Thank you for this. Great discussion!
It seems appropriate to note that I have worked in the Willamette Valley and throughout Southern California. The majority of my project work and experience is throughout central and northern California with inland and coastal sites.
Really interesting to me that you didn’t mention the one thing that would make me never deliberately plant clover, ..bee stings.
I grew up playing barefoot on a lawn with a lot of clover and I was constantly getting stung, to the point I became hypersensitive to bee stings. So it’s not something I’d ever seek out.
We keep bees and have a clover lawn and our kids have learned not to go barefoot. We keep a pair of Crocs by the door for each kid and they slip them on when they go out to play. They do get plenty of barefoot time in the house, when ok the driveway drawing with sidewalk chalk, etc. It is lovely to go barefoot in the summertime but for us it’s worth it to have bees and a pollinator friendly lawn and it only took one of the kids getting stung once before they all learned the lesson and take it seriously to take the two seconds to slip on their shoes when they go out to play.
this was fascinating! i’m currently an east coast city gal and therefore my chance of needing to think seriously about a lawn is basically zero. but i grew up in suburban texas where everyone had a giant grass lawn that required sprinklers even when the state was in a perpetual drought. seemed odd to me then and even moreso now!
My rural NY lawn is a mix of grass and clover and it’s great. Like you, we don’t need to water here but the few times we’ve had a drought the clover always does fine and the areas of just grass struggle and die. We don’t use any chemicals at all and don’t ever seed, just mow and move on with our lives. I would love to have everything be a meadow of native wildflowers, but like you I want lawn! I want room for my kid and dogs to run around and need a small field for my hobbies.
I’ve never experienced clover aggressively moving into other areas, at least not the type we have. If anything I have issues with red clover moving into beds, not the white clover that is in the lawn. Red clover is taller and weedier and doesn’t make a great ground cover, but it will show up everywhere. Grass is actually way way harder to weed out of beds since the roots form a thick mat that can be so hard to pull. White clover comes out of the soil easily.