I’m thinking about planting lemon balm as a ground cover for a small yard (about 300 square feet.) We have a good amount of it along the edges as I planted it as a means of mitigating mosquitoes and gnats. I’ m interested in feedback. Is this an insane idea?
Lemon balm
It will be high maintenance as a ground cover in our part of the country and need frequent trimming. I did battle with it years ago and swore never again. More concerning is it self sows prolifically. I would rather deal with a plant that creeps, such as the thyme family, than a potentially invasive reseeder.
Thank you MaypopLaurel. That's exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping to know. My daughter suggested clover, which is going to be my next post. I am in the processing of removing the liriope I had there for years because it was invaded by a liriope-like weed which I can't kill. So I've put roundup, the non-long term variety, on it, covered it and am digging it up. I'm afraid of planting clover, though, because of what I've read about its sensitivity to herbicides which I fear may be remaining in the yard after cleaning it up.
You might live to regret that. Clover not only spreads on runners, it reseeds like crazy and dies out by midsummer. I used to overseed my fescue horse pasture with red clover.
Consider Delosperma, aka Ice Plant. I have D. cooperi and think it's a terrific ground cover. It comes in a variety of colors. In my opinion it looks best planted in waves of color rather than having the various colors mixed. It reminds me of creeping phlox, which blooms in spring, only Deloperma blooms throughout summer and fall. It's hardy and pest free. See if you have the right conditions for it. Dry, poor soil is perfect.