Dear All,
I have large areas of shrubs in my garden where the weeds are just incessant. Was thinking of planting a ground cover to control them and need some ideas. Do they take over other plants? What if in nearby areas are perennials? Help!
TIA
Em
ground covers to fight weeds?
Mickey, I don't know of any weedkilling groundcovers that aren't invasive to some degree. It's their nature. It's a tradeoff in my opinion. Pulling weeds or maintaining a fairly well-behaved groundcover? I opt for the latter.
So far my best weed suppressors are Ivies. Not the species Ivies. But the cultivars. They are far less rambunctious and they are beautiful.
I hope I wasn't butting in since I'm in Tennessee. Anyway, I went and took a pic of this. One of my favorite areas. It used to be very weedy. It's fairly slow-growing. I just sat a hanging basket of it there one winter and let the runners root into the ground. Then cut the basket away and the ivy in the basket came back out beautifully the next spring.
You have another option: put down garden fabric, and then mulch.
Make occasional holes in fabric/mulch for annuals, like shade-loving impatiens.
Ajuga usually crowds out the weeds
Vinca .... http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/180253/
This message was edited Jul 19, 2010 10:11 AM
not a fan of garden fabric - it is a pain if you decide to dig there later.
That has been my approach for years now. Choices depend on the specific area - sun vs. shade, moisture level and foot traffic. Vinca is great for full sun to full shade and will look crappy after being stepped on, but will recover and fill in rather quickly.
For moist areas, golden creeping jenny is great. Incredibly tight weave stop just about all weeds. Takes traffic very well.
For shady areas where you will not be walking, hosta and hellebore are great.
For part shade to sun, hardy geranium.
For sun, there are many low, tight sedums as well. I've also used lamb's ears.
Ivy and pachysandra are widely used. I just don't like them.
Other important thing is to plant densely. Small shrubs work especially well for this, though there are perennials, like baptisia, that have dense foliage.
Groundcovers are the 'natural' way as well. This is what nature does, when left alone - trees, vines and tall shrubs provide the upper layer, perennials and small shrubs the middle, and groundcovers the lower.
The only thing I can get to grow in dry shade is Bishop's weed.....it will spread all over, but I happen to like it.