I hate edging / weed whacking, so I want to put ground cover all along the house and fence so I don't have to. What's the best looking stuff to use?

I am not sure of the correct definition of 'ground cover' roses, but I have four Drift Roses and am very pleased with performance. Snow drift is covered most all summer blooms and low-no maintenance. Sometimes I do a quick mini-prune to deadhead. I do not use chemicals because of honey bees and sometimes Japanese Beetles seem attracted to Snow drift (but not the other colors!)Coral Drift and Peach Drift are even better! They all did well the first year, but really hit their show-stopping peak the third year. They zing! with color.

What kind of area are you trying to cover? Full sun, full shade or something in-between? Vinca minor is very nice for it's leathery shiney evergreen leaves and trumpet lavender flowers, but it won't grow under pines, nor will it take over the lawn. There are many lamiums to choose from for part sun to shade. Beacon silver adds a light silver color to shadey areas without spreading fast or far. Areum adds a chartreuse color to go with the golden hostas, and if you can't decide between the two, Ann Greenway(?) is a mix of green, silver and chartreuse with a scalloped edge! All of those have a pink flower to them. Hermans Pride lamium has a nice mounding habit with an interesting silver pattern to the leaf. It has a yellow flower, but it is not invasive like the Arch Angel yellow flowering lamium (oh it is as pretty as it is vigorous though). Don't forget moss! Irish or native! It feels great on bare feet in the summer! Sedum sarmentosum "Yellow Moss" is very tiny and stunning, It is great for full sun/dry areas where not much else will grow as well as more hospitable areas. I have seen the dwarf dianthus used as ground cover also. Crown vetch is great for no maitnance hills you don't want to mow. Lobelia that is usulally placed in hanging pots looks great as a ground cover, but you have to buy alot, or start alot very early! The carpet roses are quite thorney!! But bloom profusly and still thrive when neglected! Moss roses cover alot of sunny ground in a short while and re seed themselves. So many lovelies to choose from! With so many suggestions offered, it will be hard to decide what you may want. I am curious to know what you may choose.... maybe you could let us know? Julie

I got an organic herbicide last year (before the price skyrocketed) under the brand name Biosafe weed control. It contains Ammonium Nonanoate, I notice Ortho is now selling this under the name Ground Clear OMRI and it does work on poison ivy. It only kills the portion of the plant above ground that has been sprayed. Killing all the foliage a few times will kill it off over time. It seems to work best when the plant is recieving the most sun it gets during the day. Just the other day I gloved up, put on long sleeves, and manually pulled out a lot of poison ivy vines (I am very allergic). I dont spend more than 20-30 minutes manually pulling before I wash up with dish soap and cold water. I have successfully used cut stem roundup concentrate applied with a foam brush on large poison ivy vines as well, cutting a segment out first with long handle loppers and using the loppers to handle the vine. I get kind of paranoid about spraying triclopyr around trees.