Seeking advice on ground covers to supplant grass lawn

[Jean]

Hello, I'm totally new here!

My husband and I bought our first house this past February, and I now have a yard for the first time. It's all grass with two maple trees that need to come down and one crab apple tree that apparently has something called apple scab.

I love working outside in the garden. However, I *don't* love cutting all the grass! Because I'm a bit of a hippie, I disdained a real lawn mower and instead bought a reel lawn mower. In the summer I was spending like an hour a day cutting a section of the lawn. Plus, I'm not a big fan of this whole monoculture thing with grass, that we do. I'd like to have a lawn full of things beneficial to bees.

So, I would like to replace a good portion of the lawn with ground cover. I've done quite a bit of looking around at options, and I have my favorites, but so few sites tell me everything I want to know about a particular plant. So I thought maybe, instead, I would list the things I'm looking for and see if more experienced gardeners might be able to point me in the right direction.

I will say first, that I quite like the look of the following covers:

English Ivy,
Vinca Vines,
Wild Ginger,
Bishop's Weed,
Creeping Thyme,
Phlox
I actually quite like clover, but it gets a bit shaggy looking. So I'll probably just put that in the back yard.


My plan is to put one or two different ground covers down in a bit of contrasting / complimenting sweep across the front slope of my yard, which has partial shade. Everything else is full sun. So ultimately, I'm looking for two or three different covers, hopefully that compliment each other (say, something variegated next to something solid). I should also note that I'm in south western Ohio, in zone 6a.

Now, on to what I'm looking for:


1) It needs to not die in winter. I'm not looking to reseed or replant every spring.

2) It would also be really nice if it didn't turn brown in winter.

3) The closer to the ground the better.

4) Fast-spreading preferred.

5) I would really like it to be able to be sown from seed, rather than having to buy plants.

6) I would like at least one ground cover that flowers, AND is useful to bees / butterflies. If they all end up having flowers, it'd be awesome if they flowered at different times.

7) Since this is a huge project, I'm not going to be digging up my whole lawn. My plan - and please feel free to tell me if this is a bad plan - is to put down cardboard / newspaper and smother the grass, and put new soil / compost on top of the paper and cardboard, then sow on that. I get free compost from my city, so while it will absolutely be a lot of work, the cost would be low for that part.

8 ) I'm not worried about whether it can handle foot traffic (or invasiveness), as I'll likely eventually put down stones in common path areas, as well has sinking some stones in to separate the ground cover sections from each other.


Okay, that is all I can think of for right now. Thank you so much in advance for taking the time to read this long post, and for any suggestions you may have

 

[Beth_B]

Welcome, @Jean! I think we have a few "bit of hippies" here so you're in good company.
I'm with you on the mowing...at my last house I actually did have an old reel mower but I have too much property here and the township would be on me in a hurry if I didn't mow. However my grass is a healthy mix of various types of grass, dandelions, clover, creeping charlie and whatever else decides to grow and I leave a lot of the edges and side yard wild and flowering.

Most of your choices (I'll add creeping charlie and ajuga to your list) are perennials - will die in winter but will come right back in spring in your zone. Vinca is evergreen and grows quite quickly in the right conditions. Another possibility are hostas - tons of color and variety, flowers that bees love in late summer and seed pods for the birds in fall. Not technically a ground cover, but there are small varieties. And then bigger, showier ones that can add a bit of height to complement the lower-growing stuff. Plus they are tough as nails and don't need much in the way of care - like most of your other choices.

Your plan of smothering your existing lawn is sound, I believe. I've done that. Not sure about planting from seed...I'm too much of an immediate gratification type plus wouldn't you need to keep the birds away somehow? Unless you are planning on starting inside then transplanting the seedlings.

Here's an article with tons of suggestions that I bookmarked, since I'm eradicating what's left of my front lawn next spring. You might find it useful for ideas:
http://content.yardmap.org/learn/ma...il&utm_term=0_47588b5758-54431755f9-304942369

 

[marlingardener]

Please avoid English Ivy--it's toxic to pets, and can cause serious sickness in children who ingest the berries or leaves.
"English ivy has been confirmed as a reservoir for bacterial leaf scorch (Xylella fastidiosa), a harmful plant pathogen that affects a wide variety of native and ornamental trees such as elms, oaks and maples. The leaves and berries of English ivy contain the glycoside hederin which may cause toxicosis if ingested. Symptoms include gastrointestinal upset, diarrhea, hyperactivity, breathing difficulty, coma, fever, polydipsia, dilated pupils, muscular weakness, and lack of coordination." Source: National Park Service.
My personal picks would be vinca, and the creeping thyme. I think both would need to be started from plants, but since they do spread, you could start with a smaller area, then cover the adjacent area with the cardboard and gradually let the groundcover expand.

 

[CanadianLori]

Welcome to the forum!

do please add your zone as that really helps people give appropriate advice.

Have fun, there are a lot of really great people here.

 

[Thomas Gannon]

Hello, I'm totally new here!

My husband and I bought our first house this past February, and I now have a yard for the first time. It's all grass with two maple trees that need to come down and one crab apple tree that apparently has something called apple scab.

I love working outside in the garden. However, I *don't* love cutting all the grass! Because I'm a bit of a hippie, I disdained a real lawn mower and instead bought a reel lawn mower. In the summer I was spending like an hour a day cutting a section of the lawn. Plus, I'm not a big fan of this whole monoculture thing with grass, that we do. I'd like to have a lawn full of things beneficial to bees.

So, I would like to replace a good portion of the lawn with ground cover. I've done quite a bit of looking around at options, and I have my favorites, but so few sites tell me everything I want to know about a particular plant. So I thought maybe, instead, I would list the things I'm looking for and see if more experienced gardeners might be able to point me in the right direction.

I will say first, that I quite like the look of the following covers:

English Ivy,
Vinca Vines,
Wild Ginger,
Bishop's Weed,
Creeping Thyme,
Phlox
I actually quite like clover, but it gets a bit shaggy looking. So I'll probably just put that in the back yard.


My plan is to put one or two different ground covers down in a bit of contrasting / complimenting sweep across the front slope of my yard, which has partial shade. Everything else is full sun. So ultimately, I'm looking for two or three different covers, hopefully that compliment each other (say, something variegated next to something solid). I should also note that I'm in south western Ohio, in zone 6a.

Now, on to what I'm looking for:


1) It needs to not die in winter. I'm not looking to reseed or replant every spring.

2) It would also be really nice if it didn't turn brown in winter.

3) The closer to the ground the better.

4) Fast-spreading preferred.

5) I would really like it to be able to be sown from seed, rather than having to buy plants.

6) I would like at least one ground cover that flowers, AND is useful to bees / butterflies. If they all end up having flowers, it'd be awesome if they flowered at different times.

7) Since this is a huge project, I'm not going to be digging up my whole lawn. My plan - and please feel free to tell me if this is a bad plan - is to put down cardboard / newspaper and smother the grass, and put new soil / compost on top of the paper and cardboard, then sow on that. I get free compost from my city, so while it will absolutely be a lot of work, the cost would be low for that part.

8 ) I'm not worried about whether it can handle foot traffic (or invasiveness), as I'll likely eventually put down stones in common path areas, as well has sinking some stones in to separate the ground cover sections from each other.


Okay, that is all I can think of for right now. Thank you so much in advance for taking the time to read this long post, and for any suggestions you may have

Nice choice on the reel lawnmower, that's great for the environment because using a motorized lawn mower for half an hour is like driving a car for over 100 miles. Anyways if you want something that grows fast and looks nice I would do vinca vines (also known as periwinkle) I have that and it really takes over(makes weeding a struggle though) then I'd recommend creeping thyme.

 

[AppleCore13]

@Jean I'd like to add that I think the newspaper method is a great idea. Me and my Dad used it in my garden and it worked really well.

 

[Chuck]

Is this in a rural area? If not, many towns and cities and HOA's have ridiculous rules concerning what you can and cannot do with your own property.