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Texas Gardening

Ground cover in shaded area

7 years ago

We recently cleared a lot of brush and vines from about .25 acres on our property. We left several large oak trees that are providing considerable shade. Right now the ground is covered in dead leaves, and I'm hesitant to rake them up because weeds might take over. I'm looking for a few suggestions for a low water, low maintenance ground cover that is shade tolerant. We don't have irrigation back there, although there is a creek that runs through part of it. I was thinking buffalo grass or a native sedge. What would be our best option for a wooded area?

Featured Answer

wantonamara Z8 CenTex

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

Sedges are great. I let salvia roemeriana seed out They merge nicely in the sedges. Also the northern sea oats will take dry shade. Bluestem will grow in part shade or dappled shade. Are you looking to keep this a wild look with natives? Phlox pilosa will take shade and travel around. It dies down as the summer gets hot and then returns in spring. Mine is blooming a bit now. Salvia lyrata and salvia coccinea will grow great in the wild and seed out generously. without any attention.

If it has been wild, Change it slowly or by seeding gently or by putting in plugs.. You might be surprised by what comes up. You might have wild orchids . They have years between bloom cycles and are such a thrill to discover.

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Comments (7)

Idean Salehyan
Original Author
7 years ago
Also, if it helps, we are in North Texas, near Denton.
girlnamedgalez8a
7 years ago
Virginia creeper, English ivy, once established doesn't need a lot of water, Cast Iron plant, Turks cap, I have all of these covering large areas on my 2 wooded acres in Denton Co. I am in Oak Point.
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a couple that do well for me in similar conditons are strawberry begonia and asarums and hexastylis, especially h. splendens (chinese showy ginger). the strawberry begonia is neither a strawberry nor a begonia but is saxifraga stolonifera. it is just beginning to flower at my house and the flowers are a nice addition to the pretty foliage. for what it's worth, i am still eradicating vinca in my woods after planting it many years ago (if nicole and i are thinking of the same plants, the perennial vinca major and minor). i regret the day i dug a piece and introduced it to my garden. hexastylis splendens you can see some of the strawberry begonia at the base of the concrete planter in this photo.
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I also have some polka dot plant in some of my containers (I thought it was called fittonia), but have only ever seen the pink variety, not the green and white kind as shown in the last picture. If I take off a flower spike from the container plants, will it seed new plants in my shade area? Also, where do you get the different varieties? Cynthia, Painted-Net Leaf Plant (Fittonia) and Polka Dot Plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya) look similar, but are completely different plants. I don't have any experience with Fittonia. Maybe someone else can guide you as to how they perform in the yard. Polka Dot plant is sold in small pots in Walmart, Lowes and Home Depot. Frequently they will have three different shades in a single pot. Sometimes they will have a single color in a pot, too, in case you don't want to mix, but I don't see that as often as the mixed pots. They usually run $2.50 - $4.00. All of my different colors are from new seedlings that were a result of parent plants cross-pollinating on their own. The plant in the last picture is actually pale pink and dark green. If you look at the leaf near the bottom of the photo and the leaves closer to the ground, you can see the pinkish hue. I think you will like Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine 'Margarita'. Stick as many starts as you can afford from your parent plant. Once they have rooted, the lime green color can be made really vibrant/chartreuse by giving them a periodic watering with Miracle-Gro. I usually use it half-strength on everything - but the ones on my front porch went from blah lime-green to POP lime-green once I hit them with the liquid fertilizer. Have fun and good luck! Carol Here is a link that might be useful: Google Images - Fittonia
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Hi - Maybe try ajuga or vinca vine ,it flowers and can take the heat!Good luck,Tina
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The advice you received was correct, despite the claims made by grass seed companies and their "shade mix" products: Grasses are definitely not going to do well with that little sun exposure. Mazus, Ajuga, and Green-and-Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum) come to mind as alternatives, but there are more options. Moisture will be the biggest concern as many shade groundcovers really cannot thrive if they are dry. There are some though, like barrenwort, that will do fine dry. Also, you need to specify how high you want the groundcover to be -- plants up to 1 ft. high are often considered groundcovers, but some people really prefer something that is only a few inches high. Personally, I really like U.S. native viola walteri var. 'Silver Gem' as a shade groundcover. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Click the link below, fill in your information about exposure, etc. and you will get some more choices. The conditions you list seem to leave you with many good possibilities. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Groundcover Selector
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Mary Leek
7 years ago
I am trying Pigeonberry for the first time this year, to be planted in my dappled shade garden. I've read they can go dormant in the heat of summer if they get too dry but since this is a Texas native, I'm not certain how dry DRY needs to be before this dormancy kicks in! :-) Red berries for the birds, blooms from early spring through fall for the pollinators and butterflies, pretty fall color, height 1 to 2 feet on average. Not certain if the height is too tall for you. There are many discussions about this plant here in the garden forums, if you think you might be interested in taking a look. Just do a search for Pigeonberry or Pigeon Berry. The proper name is Rivina
humilis aka Rouge plant.

I currently have small seedlings I started from seed and they're growing well. Can't wait to see how they do this season. Best of luck with your new plantings.

Mary
roselee z8b S.W. Texas
7 years ago
I agree that Pigeon berry is a beautiful plant that will grow in sun or shade and will tolerate dry soils. I have some that never gets watered and it hasn't gone dormant. It never gets over a foot tall if that much at my house unless it has something to lean on as in the second photo below.

Here is it growing in poor soil along the front curb in very hot dry conditions ...

Here it is with a little water and better soil. It's neat how it has berries and flowers at the same time ...
Mary Leek
7 years ago
Roselee, thank you so much for sharing photos of your pigeonberry plantst. The one getting some attention is stunning, especially considering it is a native plant. I can hardly wait to see how my little seedlings do.

Mary
Keely Line z8a north texas
7 years ago
asiatic jasmine

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