Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Groundcover instead of grass?
My husband and I are 3 months away from moving into the house I grew up in which my Dad gave us as a wedding present. I have been eyeing the lawn and the grass in the front yard is NOT happy. It is St Augustine and it is completely overshadowed by two enormous red oaks. Unfortunately this means that half of the yard is just dirt with little tufts of grass sprouting hopefully here and there and then dying for lack of sun. I could pay oodles of money to trim the trees to try and let more sunlight in but Dad claims he has tried that and it does not work. I do NOT want to resod and have everything die.
I have also noticed that there is some vinka and vinka minor that my mother planted around the base of the oaks a long time ago and contained with a circle of bricks. That stuff is VERY HAPPY to be in the extreme shade. Here is my thought... why can't I just remove the bricks and get some more vinka and plant it around and just cover my entire front yard with that? Has anyone on here done this and do you have any suggestions/warnings that I am just not thinking of? I love those trees so they are not going anywhere.
Re: Groundcover instead of grass?
Vinca can be very invasive depending on the area you live on, but it sounds like a plan. A couple of things to keep in mind -- how will you pick up the tree leaves when they fall, and how will you keep the Vinca to a manageable height? Good luck!
Last fall I did exactly this in a spot where it would be difficult to mow. The spot has mid-day sun (Zone 5). Some of the vinca came from a bed in full shade, the rest of it came from HD, who was selling flats of it at a good price. I mulched between the plants to discourage weeds.
This spring the vinca were in bloom as soon as the snow melted. Right now all the clumps I planted are growing like crazy and spreading well. It might not fill in completely before the fall (I planted them about 2 feet apart), but within a year or so should be a solid mass, thick enough to choke out most weeds.
I don't know that height will really be a problem. The established bed in the shade gets maybe 8 inches high max; when the stems get longer than this they fall over and root to become runners. This is certainly higher than the usual lawn height, but fine for an area you won't often be walking through. However, if you need something shorter, it might not be the right choice. You can trim it, but this will inhibit its ability to spread.
Keeping the bed contained has not really been difficult (speaking of the bed in shade, as the other hasn't had a chance yet to attempt an escape). It's no worse than trimming a lawn. The runners do not have deep roots and can be pulled up and trimmed back easily.
The bed with more sun definitely blooms more than that in shade, but the plant itself is pretty even when not in bloom.
One note about the HD plants -- they do not all seem to be the same variety. Some have double flowers; on others the flowers were a slightly lighter color. But the leaves are all the same. The differences are only noticeable when they are blooming.
If you want to get the leaves out of the vinca, you'll probably need a leaf blower because a rake is just going to get tangled in the vinca. Depending on the number and amount of leaves you have, it could mat down and cover the vinca if not removed.
I think this is a good idea though. You could also plant liriope along the edge of the bed to rein in the vinca somewhat. Liriope does well in shade.
Hm... can you just let the leaves fall? Will they just end up as mulch like nature intended? I am not sure that much leaf raking was done in the last year since my mother died right around fall and still the vinka (and some other mysterious ground cover around the Japanese Maples that I have not identified) all look pretty happy and healthy.
I don't bother to clean the leaves out of the established vinca bed, but the tree that shades them has rather small leaves, so the leaves don't smother the plants. The wind either blows them away or rustles the vinca enough that the leaves sift down to the ground under it. Even the nearby maples and oaks don't causes a problem. I agree with the PP that if you need to remove the leaves, a leaf blower would be the right tool to use.
What does the ground cover under the Japanese maple look like? Could it be pachysandra or ajuga? What zone are you in?