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PNW western hillside recommendations

5 years ago

I'm looking for groundcover over a moderate hill which is shaded by mature evergreen trees. The hill is west facing and gets sun starting from the bottom at mid-afternoon, and by the end of the day the whole hill sees the setting sun. It's pretty dry due to the slope and the tree roots, but does have sprinklers which come on at least twice a week.

My current candidates for groundcover are cornus canadensis (bunchberry) and maianthemum dilatatum (false lily of the valley) since both seem to be natives here. My first idea was pachysandra but I thought it might be better to go with the native plants...

Can you recommend any other plants? I am looking for:
- carpeting behaviour
- neat leaf shape like the bunchberry and false LoV
- low height

Nice to have but not requirements:
- native to PNW
- evergreen

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Comments (5)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
5 years ago
Bunchberry is tricky to grow, even here. It prefers mostly shade and a rich, evenly moist soil and seldom develops into a very dense groundcover. I'm not at all sure it would thrive in your situation. And neither it nor the maianthemum will be evergreen.

I'd consider kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi - native), salal (Gaultheria shallon - native), Oxalis oregana (evergreen form) or a couple of non-natives like Vaccinium vitis-idaea ssp. minus (lingonberry), wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) or vinca. The pachy would work well also.
teuth thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver)
5 years ago
What about low growing mahonia? Alpine strawberries? Western swordferns? Here are a few more ideas: https://www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=8540
teuth thanked Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver)
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My experience with steep slopes is that the previous owner of my place planted English ivy as a erosion control ground cover on a very steep slope. In many places steeper than yours. But even the very invasive English ivy is no match for other weeds. I have salmon and thimble berries, red elderberries, Indian Plum coming up through the ivy and shading it out. Even some non-natives like European ash and European beech trees sprouting out of the ivy. The worst is our native PNW salal, Gaultheria shallon, when all its needs are meant they win out over ivy. So any ground cover that isn't as aggressive as these will be full of weeds given time and no weeding. Maybe a good weed block or engineering geotextile fabric with lose bark as a cover would last the longest without weed problems. I covered a smaller area doing that and it took 16 years before weeds started growing on it, but with the bark they were easy to pull out.
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teuth
Original Author
5 years ago
Thank you both for your very helpful comments.

I think I am going to try wintergreen (got a few cute little ones today, complete with berries...will see how they do before buying too many more) and kinnikinnick (since I looked it up I realized I've already seen it growing in some harsh places in my neighbourhood so I'm sure it will do fine). I am definitely going to include some western sword ferns but those grow gigantic - I would like something low and spreading below.

@gardengal48, can you comment on how fast wintergreen and kinnikinnick will spread? Can I be cheap and buy fewer plants? :D
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
5 years ago
Wintergreen does not spread very fast at all and kinnikinnick only moderately faster. To get full coverage and decent weed suppression you would need to space them relatively closely. The typical recommended spacing is 18-24" but you could go closer for faster coverage. I'm not sure you'd be happy with the results of a wider spacing although I understand that if a big slope, economy alway factors into the equation :-)

Because of the kinnikinnick's growth habit, you will still get some weed development (although the mulch will help), so be prepared to do some weeding until it is established. And keep on top of the weeds going forward........it is almost inevitable that you will get some alder seedlings or blackberries popping up and whatever else might be common in your area and if they get a toehold into the slope and groundcover, it will be far more difficult to remove them than if without any groundcover. Unfortunately, NO groundcover is 100% effective at weed suppression.
teuth thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
teuth
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks for the detailed reply! Very informative and helpful

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