micco, my aunt did her master’s thesis on buffalograss as an alternative ground cover. It sounds like great stuff, especially if you don’t like to futz with watering and mowing. It might just be what the OP is looking for.
A good portion of my backyard is going to be woodchips. We’ve got two very tall cottonwood trees beack there, among other things, so most of the yard is shady once it leafs out. The previous owners decided not to rake for a few years, so if there ever was any grass in those shady areas, it’s just dirt now! Also, we’re putting in a swingset for the kid, so the chips will provide a softer place to land if she falls. I’ve also got some shade-tolerant plants–hosta, lillies-of-the valley, ferns. Eventually, it’ll be shade-tolerant gardens with woodchip paths. (Ooh, Irish moss!)
Another aunt covered a troublesome hill in her backyard with, IIRC, daylilies, with woodchip mulch around them (If you had to walk back there, you could walk on the chips.)
Cover it with concrete (leaving a few 3-foot-diameter round holes to plant cacti in) and paint it green. There’s a house here in town that has a yard like that.
I appreciate all of the answers. However, I can see that I didn’t do a great job of explaining just how big the back yard is. It is at least 3/4 of an acre and probably closer to a whole acre. My entire land is 1.33 acres, but the front yard is small and covered with trees. If the back had as many trees, I’d be happy. Anyway, I’m not sure covering it in wood chips will work. Or that I could afford to cover it in concrete, nor a deck. Clover sounds interesting, does it stay low?
I know the OP requested a low-growing groundcover, but since you have such a large area, you may want to consider a meadow garden for part of it. The cheap meadow-in-a-can doesn’t usually work well. I’d recommend these folks as a great source for meadow gardens. They sell plants and seeds; the owner is an expert. Request their print catalog; it’s chock full of great information and lots of photos.
Once a meadow gets established (a bit of work on the front end), it’s very low maintenance. The best plus is that it will attract bajillions of butterflies and birds, helping wildlife, and also much more interesting than your standard lawn.
Some meadows look pretty but turns brown in the summer & then you have to mow it down cause the neighbors don’t want to look at it & its a fire hazard.
Your yard sounds like the one my dad had as a kid. He and his brothers mowed it all with one of those old fashioned non-motorized push mowers (and he walked miles to school, uphill both ways, etc. etc.) Today, all that land he used to mow is now a subdivision. Perhaps that’s the way to go ;).
(Hmmm…I wonder if that yard is what inspired his sister into researching buffalo grass in the first place.)
My Neighborhood has ALOT of trees & I’ve seen many solutions – many already mentioned:
Gravel (sort of ornamental white rock not too fine) sees to work well for some Dog owners.
Seen Chips but often you have to weed and pluck with them.
One guy went “the boulder route" or built a rock garden with many large (like 2 X3ft X 1 ft) rocks filled by gravel. Less than chips but there is still fairly regular weeding involved. it looks pretty cool.
The biggest PITA but nicest look is a guy who went with a Koi pond – he has some light & so has some grass to mow too he didn’t cover the yard, but could easily have done this in conjunction with another solution. He did much of the pond himself & before West Nile it was really, really nice & enjoyable on a Fall/Spring afternoon. Better than any grass lawn really
When House hunting I saw a townhouse that had created a backyard garden of brick – this looked very classy – but If done wrong I could see it turning out ugly as sin.
Bishop’s weed is an aggressive groundcover that never gets higher than 6-8 inches. It’s quite pretty, with light green and white leaves. For your walkway, lemon basil is lovely. Tiny leaves, and it smells wonderful when you walk on it. Melon and pumpkin will completely take over, spreading everywhere, and shading out weeds with their huge leaves.
Perhaps in California, handy, but here on the east coast, meadows stay green, and really come into their own in the fall. We don’t have to cut back until late winter.