fast growing, ground huggin, ground cover

At our Wisc seasonal place, i have a lot of shade.
We have found out that we have an "artillery fungus" problem ... where it has actually ruined the paint on my car.

I'm thinking -- If i can completely cover the ground with a ground cover, it could eliminate the 'spores' being shot out of the ground.
I'd wanted something that would fill in quickly ... and i do have a lot of other plants. DH wants to do that 'weed block' roll stuff... which i dont want to do.

Last season... we raked all the way down to the sand [we have sandy soil] eliminate all the debris that can possibly rot and cause more problems.

if anyone knows of how to help deal with these spores... that would be great too.

Thanks in advance

Terese

There are gonna be a lot of posiblities, i like Vinca minor, bowles variety.
Good Luck,
fernman23

Yep the vinca ...I hope you get it under control :)
chrissy

Vinca is a great groundcover, but it won't be happy in sandy ground. You'll have to amend with lots of organic matter, and be sure to mulch. Epimedium (barrenwort) will tolerate dry shade better, and also sandy soils, but vinca (myrtle) would be my first choice if the soil can be made right for it.

I would recommend Phlox stolonifera. It is beautiful in the Spring, spreads very quickly, and grows everywhere. Here is a pic of some of mine; the flowers are borne on stalks about 5 inches long. Comes in many colors.
Good luck!

OH -- that's pretty.

now... how "rakeable" would that be?

for fall clean up, we have a lot of pine needles and oak leaves
though we can just use the blower thing.

That would look very nice with my hostas!!

It's a very tough plant with a very shallow root system. Blowing would be good, but if you rake, just push the pieces that you rake up into the soil and they will grow and spread. I also have a white one which is very pretty. Here's a good source:
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/search.html?mv_session_id=uNFACm8J&co=yes&ma=yes&mc=1&tf=name&to=f&rf=*&sp=results_pics&st=db&fi=products&mv_value=nametype%3Dscientific&ml=45&mv_value=srchtype%3Dkey&from_search=1&sf=%3Acode%3Aname%3Acommon_name%3Ashort_desc%3Adescription1&se=phlox+stolonifera&su=1&op=rm&sf=is_coupon&se=1&su=0&op=ne&sf=disc&se=0&su=0&op=gt&hide=1

Great !! thanks -- i always wondered what plant that was on the cover of their catalog, it's gorgeous!

I've had creeping phlox, but these too are very nice.

Good luck and happy gardening!

I just did a quick search on stepables.com and found creeping jenny to fit the bill too, and that i will have access to since i'm redoing a huge flower box up there that is loaded with creeping jenny. so i may just transplant some and see how it works.

ajuga might be a good choice as well - some find it too aggressive, but most quick-spreading groundcovers are.

yes, that would work too. I have a tiny patch of "chocolate" in a different part of the yard.

well, i actually found a shot of part of my area in question

-- so something 'wildly' spreading, will not effect other areas, as it is sorta 'locked' in by rocks, roads, and railroad ties

This V vinca grows very fast and you get a nice blue carpet of flowers every Spring ...it grows in both sandy and clay conditions.

chrissy100's vinca in the photo looks like Vinca major, which is not hardy in Wisconsin (but sometimes come back from the roots in mild winters). Vinca minor is what one would have to use instead, with smaller, evergreen leaves, but still pretty blue flowers. There are variegated varieties of Vinca minor though.

I have vinca minor growing in a several different areas, both sun and shade in total sand. I've just dug it up from one area, and plopped it right into another spot. Does fine without lots of soil amendments here, but it does need lots of water the first year. I rake the leaves and pine needles out and it doesn't seem to bother it too much. Tough stuff!

Rose

thanks Rose .... last spring i did plant some at home... we'll see how it does this year... maybe i'll get more for up north too. the flowers are pretty.

I dunno, Terese, It would take years for Vinca to make the coverage you'd need to control something as fine as spores, though. Ajuga, or even the common blue violet has a lot bigger leaves, and on the violets, you could find the plants or seeds that woul dmake it faster and cheaper. Creeping Jenny would work, too, but once again, each of the stems is thin, like a spider's leg, and spores would come right up.

Other things with big leaves are hostas and heucheras, and both could be sown by the hundreds, then planted out really close for some true coverage..

Suzy

Suzy -- i have hostas on that side of the yard [that is where i'm actually planning my Hosta Garden .... ordering many and moved a few there last year] but i dont think i can cover all the available ground with them -- so i'd like a stepable ground cover.

but they too were covered on 'spore droppings'

fro what we've read on these "spore" things ... is they can shoot pretty far... so it may be coming from across the street too. It's a nightmare.

Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhh. I thought they were coming from underneath. How werid, I have never heard of it before.

Suzy

Suzy -- yes, from what i understand, they do come from underneath [decomposing wood and the sort] but they shoot in meters... yes, meters... so it could be coming from other places.... but it is definetly in our yard too because the car, trailer, plants get 'spore splatter'. its almost like brown tar.

It's called Artillery Fungus
http://www.cleanertimes.com/features3/Artillery.cfm

I'm contemplating NOT even parking my car in our driveway this summer.

I really love the white sweet woodruff in the shaded area of the yard.... Its even good in the sunnier spots...But its not to invasive... The flowers smell really great also. You can see some of it around this giant prime rose...

thanks Gardenlady... that's really pretty. I too always like sweet woodruff.