Types of Clover - 3 Kinds, Lawn to Chocolate

Choose a lawn clover, a cover-crop clover, or a chocolate ornamental first.

Choose a lawn clover, a cover-crop clover, or a chocolate ornamental first

Factor	Recommended	Avoid
Mowed mixed lawn	Creeping white clover	Do not sow tall red or crimson as a permanent lawn
Meadow or green manure	Red clover	Do not expect a 4-inch mowed carpet
Winter cover and spring crimson bloom	Crimson clover	Do not treat it as a perennial lawn
Bronze four-leaflet edging	Chocolate clover	Do not buy a forage bag for this look

Know your USDA hardiness zone before you pick a type of trifolium that will take your winter. Type your ZIP below.

2023 USDA ZIP listings (PRISM / USDA-ARS). Find Your USDA Hardiness Zone · Official USDA map.

Read the habit on the bag. A lawn wants a low creeping white. Red clover is the taller meadow plant, with pink heads, not a mowed carpet. [1] Crimson clover is a winter annual that finishes after bloom. [2] Chocolate clover is a four-leaflet white-clover selection, not a forage sack. [3] Crimson is an annual green manure, not Dutch white. [4] Sun and mowing stay on How to Grow Clover. Sow dates and rates stay on Planting Clover.

Which clover should I plant?

Pick the job first: a creeping white for a mixed lawn, red for a taller meadow or cover, crimson for a winter annual, or chocolate for a bronze ornamental mat.

Can I use red clover as a lawn?

No. Red clover stands too tall for regular mowing. Use white clover in a grass mix.

Browse by kind

Lawn white clover

white clover is the creeping perennial for a mixed lawn. Stems root as they run, so the stand fills gaps. Microclover sold as Pipolina or Pirouette is still this species, with smaller leaves — not a separate plant we list.

Red clover

red clover grows upright, often to a foot or two, with pink to purplish heads. The common name says red, but the flowers read pink. Use it in a meadow or as a cover. It is the wrong bag for a mowed front lawn.

Crimson clover

crimson clover is a winter annual. Sow it for a cool-season cover and a spring flush of cone-shaped crimson heads, then it dies. Crimean clover on a tag is this plant, not a fifth species.

Chocolate clover

chocolate clover is white clover selected for four bronze leaflets with a green edge. Buy it as an ornamental mat, not as a 50-pound forage sack.

Pick the group, then the plant. Strawberry clover, alsike, and ladino are names you may see on seed racks; they are not plants we list. Treat a low creeping white plant as lawn clover.

If you wanted a mowed mixed lawn, buy white clover — crimson will not stay as a perennial carpet.

FAQ

Is microclover a different species?

No. Microclover is a small-leaf white clover, often sold as Pipolina or Pirouette. It still belongs with lawn white clover.

Is Crimean clover crimson clover?

Yes. Crimean clover is Trifolium incarnatum, the winter-annual crimson cover.

Do we hold red feather clover (Trifolium rubens)?

Not in this catalog list. If you already own an upright ornamental clover that is not crimson or red clover, treat it as an ornamental, not as lawn white.

References

[1] NC State Extension Gardener - https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/trifolium-pratense/
[2] NC State Extension Gardener - https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/trifolium-incarnatum/
[3] NC State Extension Gardener - https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/trifolium-repens/
[4] Clemson Cooperative Extension HGIC - https://hgic.clemson.edu/crimson-red-clover/

This note is part of Trifolium Guides.

More type comparisons by plant are gathered in Types of Plants Guides.

Updated: September 2026 Reviewed by Bosquelle Editors