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at a loss on good ground cover...

9 years ago

I would like a ground cover to fill in the rest of my steep hill. The hill is on the north/northeast side of my house.....i never paid too much attention to how much sun it got last summer, so that I'm not quite sure about that. I know it hardly gets any sun right now in the winter.

Every time I think I find a ground cover that will work, I read something about it that stops me in my tracks. Here's what I would ideally like:

1. Weed suppression (hill is too steep to regulary weed)
2. Good for erosion control
3. Non-invasive! (this is the part that seems to make me change my mind about most ground covers)
4. Interesting most of the summer/fall.....something that blooms the entire growing season would be great, but not an absolute must.

Mixed into the hill are Roses off to the far side, random day lilies, and at the top Liriope ( I think the Spicata kind)

Here are some of the plants I considered, but now I'm not sure about....

Creeping Phlox.....but I'm not sure they would get enough sun, and I don't like the fact they don't bloom that long. I would like something more showy all year if possible.

Asian Jasmine....but worried about invasivness

Periwinkle....once again, invasivness.....I don't want it getting into my yard at the bottom of my hill and getting out of control.

Here's a photo of what I'm dealing with. Looking up the hill from the bottom. Hill is at the Northeast corner of the property.
{{gwi:50498}}

thanks

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Comments (4)

bgaviator
Original Author
9 years ago
..oh, I also considered ice plant too. Not sure if they would work well on this hill or not. But I like the fact that they bloom all summer. What I thought would look really cool is some type of blue colored plant coming down from the top into this dirst section in the middle. Have it look like a waterfall maybe. The only plants i've seen with a decent blue flower though is the Emerald Blue Creeping Phlox.....though they look more lavender in a lot of pictures I've seen.

{{gwi:2125693}}
PRO
Blossoms & Blueprints, LLC
9 years ago
You must get at least some sun in this area because those roses on the left side are blooming like crazy. Groundcover roses will often tolerate some shade and will prevent erosion without taking over the universe. Pawnee Buttes sand cherry will spread about 6 feet, offer white spring flowers and red fall foliage. But it prefers drier areas, and I don't know how much rainfall you get.Groundcovers beautify garden while preventing weeds
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I am a consulting horticulturist and I deal with horsetails constantly. Pulling does NOT compound the problem as long as you keep at. I have horsetails in my own inherited garden and that is how I deal with them and fairly successfully as well, I might add. The roots run quite deeply and pulling does not remove all the roots. New growth can emerge from these but if you keep pulling ALL the new growth before it develops much height (less than 8"), the plant is unable to photosynthesize and will eventually weaken to the point where it will not return. And only a few of the plants produce spores and only in early spring - they are very distinctive compared to the typical horsetail - and these should be pulled as soon as they appear so the spores do not develop. Most of the horsetails' spread can be attributed to the rhizomes, not the spores. I do this for a living and this is a very accepted and relatively efficient way of dealing with these pests. The lime will have NO effect so save your money and your effort. Horsetails can and do grow in a lightly alkaline soil. Increasing the pH any more than that would make the soil inhospitable to most anything else as well. Any low growing or spreading perennial that shares similar growing conditions will serve to protect the clematis roots. I like hardy geraniums. But unless the horsetails are eradicated first, you will be dealing with these weeds indefinitely. And attempting to remove horsetails from within the root system of an established clematis plant is asking for unnecessary trouble.
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User
9 years ago
Check out Lithodora.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
9 years ago
Couple of thoughts:

For effective erosion control, you need an evergreen plant. Nearly every part of the country (except maybe the southwest) gets a reasonable amount of rain in winter and that's when most of the erosion happens. Or in early spring before things have leafed out.

I can't think of ANY groundcover that has a particularly long bloom period - a month at best in most cases (except maybe iceplant, Delosperma, but doesn't sound like enough sun for that to be happy.

And you want a groundcover that roots as it goes. That's where the erosion control comes into play also - you need a dense, spreading root system to hold the soil in place.

Lithodora is not a bad suggestion. Not an exceptionally long bloom time - finished in my area by late spring/early summer. Screaming blue flowers. But it is evergreen and each plant can spread to about 3-4'. The only drawback is it can look pretty ratty after winter and generally needs a good grooming/cutting back, which could prove tricky on that slope. And not all that effective at keeping weeds at bay. It's rather loosely knit in its growth habit and weeds come up easily in between the stems/runners.

My favorite ground cover for this situation is creeping raspberry, Rubus calycinoides. Has a very directional flow to its growth so will appear to flow down the slope. Evergreen, with a great foliage texture and bronze winter coloring. It layers upon itself making a thick mat so ideal for weed suppression. But flowering is sporadic, the occasional white strawberry-like flower followed by an edible gold berry. Not the slightest bit invasive, either.

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