Looking for advice for ground cover (gardening)

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**Ouze**

Hello all,

This being gardening season, I thought I'd tap the Dakka Hive-mind and ask for advice. Can you guys recommend some kind of leafy green plant that works well as very aggressive ground cover in a semi-shaded area? I need something for near my koi point, and I don't want to go with grass because it's very difficult to mow in that area. I'm in zone 4, and looking for some first-party advice, something you've actually used.

Thanks!

**poda_t**

What s your time window for a response, and how much space are we talking here?

**Leigen_Zero**

A ground-crawling Ivy possibly?
Has the added bonus that it will try to cover other surfaces as well, downside is you have to keep it in check otherwise it will slowly take over the entire garden...

**notprop**

Have you considered Japanese Knotweed? That'll cover everything! /Jk

In all seriousness, although I note your mowing/grass comment how about a meadow mix grass seed. It will contain lots of good long grasses and a load of wild flowers (pretty weeds) and will need zero management if it takes.

You should be able to get something similar to your local environment so insects/wild life will flourish which can only be a good thing for you fish - unless your local wildlife consists of koi eating birds!

**Steve steveson**

For us non Americans, whats zone 4? (I'm guessing you don't mean Ealing or Bromwich)

What are the local conditions (Soil and weather) like?

A ground crawling ivy is a good choice, but likes a bit of damp and can be a bitch to shift if you don't want it. Just be warned though with Ivy, the berrys are poisonous and Koi will eat anything that drops in the pond so keep it back from the edge. The leaves should be fine blowing in, just make sure you check your corse filter on a regular basis as the leaves will clog it up given half a chance.

Heather, mint and thyme are all good as well. Never used them for ground cover, but I know it can be done. I have only used them in pots and they all grow like crazy once established, but this dose take a year or two, and very hardy. Plus side of them, they are all safe to eat (therefor safe for the fish) and useable in the kitchen.

Vinca would work well to. Never grown it myself, but it comes well recomended. The only problem being that it is mildly invasive, so check your local laws before planting.

**djones520**

I don't think it's an American issue Steve, cause I have no clue what he means by Zone 4.

I've found Lily of the Valley to be an attractive plant that works well in shaded area's, but i've heard bad things about it.

**notprop**

Mints good and does spreads like crazy once its in and is great with new potatoes.

If your brave you might want to choose a Bamboo which would go nicely with the Koi pond but you would have to prep the area first so that it doesn't spread roots all over the place. I had this problem with bamboo and while I like it, when it suddenly appear 15 feet away in the middle of your lawn you know it has to go!

**Steve steveson**

djones520 wrote:
I don't think it's an American issue Steve, cause I have no clue what he means by Zone 4.

Found it. Its a US clasification of climate for plant hardyness.

djones520 wrote:

I've found Lily of the Valley to be an attractive plant that works well in shaded area's, but i've heard bad things about it.

Lily of the Valley is not good for fish.

Fish are my area rather than plants, so I must admit I am taking guesses with good plants, but know about not killing fish.

A local wild flower mix might be a good idea, and all the insects will keep the fish fed. The only problem would be there is a carefull balance between "nice medow" and "overgrown wasteland" with wild flowers, which depends on the rest of the garden.

My other segestion (getting a little more complex) how about a building a bog area, planting it up with marginals? Run a small pump from the pond, plant up some pond lillys and all the other stuff Koi will eat. The one I realy like for this is watercress. Gives a good green covering, very good filter and good for insects, which then flow in to the pond. Just needs 4"-6" of water and a small waterflow in to the pond (It can grow without the water, but that misses out some of the use). And it tastes good.

**Gitzbitah**

I will also chime in for mint- I started with just a single plant, and in just one season it has spread to about a 4 square foot area while being cared for sporadically. It is definitely starting to interdict the growth of other plants in its area. A more impressive start should enable it to take and hold any area, and spread. Plus, it smells great and most ants don't like it at all.

There are a lot of varieties out there. The ones I use would be worthless in Zone 4, because I'm in north Florida, where we have double summer and 2 weeks of winter. There are varieties that will work down to Zone 3, which should be plenty hardy enough.

**gorgon**

Ouze, my recommendation would be Pachysandra. It's aggressive ground cover that grows well in shady conditions. It shouldn't break the bank either. Note that it is aggressive.

**kronk**

djones520 wrote:
I don't think it's an American issue Steve, cause I have no clue what he means by Zone 4.

North American Planting Zones:

Link if picture doesn't work.

Sorry, Ouze. I'm all the way down in Zone 9. Other than recommending some type of Ivy, I can't help you.

**notprop**

kronk wrote:
djones520 wrote:
I don't think it's an American issue Steve, cause I have no clue what he means by Zone 4.

North American Planting Zones:

Link if picture doesn't work.

Sorry, Ouze. I'm all the way down in Zone 9. Other than recommending some type of Ivy, I can't help you.

I hope no one gets that confuzzled with your colour coded preparedness/danger level system.

I'd hate to see you go to DefCon 1 over shrubbery!

**Steve steveson**

Looks like a usefull map of "where to live in the US without being frozen or baked alive". Now we just need to cross refrence with a tornado, hurricane and earthquake map.

Going on my extensive (30 seconds with Google when I should be working but CBA since I was in 2 hours early this morning) research we you should all move to Navajo County and Apache County az! No earth quakes, floods, tornados, hurricanes, acceptable tempratures, very low crime. Also, no people, houses, citys. My little town has more people than Apache County... Perhaps I need to do more work on this theory.

**Ouze**

poda_t wrote:
What s your time window for a response, and how much space are we talking here?

No rush at all, and about a 15 foot by 30 foot patch.

there is no other garden to speak of, really. There is an oak tree nearby and it's always dropping tons of little trees which are a pain in the ass to remove; I was hoping some thing to choke them out, and just in general keep it from becoming a big patch of weeds.

**chrisyella**

Asian jasmine or blue rug juniper

**rubiksnoob**

I'll also echo mint, although I was going to say Corsican mint before I noticed you'd mentioned you're in Zone 4. Bummer. There are some Zone 4 hardy varieties, I'm sure, though.

If you want something a little more on the wild side, you could go with sempervivums. You'd probably find them at the nursery under the name Hen and Chicks. Once you've got them established they'll spread like wildfire. They're also hardy to Zone 3, so no problems there. They'll do fine in light/partial shade, and once you've got them established, you'll most likely never have to water them. I've used them in landscaping, in containers, everything; most low-maintenance plant ever. I had some in a pot for a while. . . I think I watered them four times a summer and never in the winter, and I'm in Zone 7/8.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=sempervivum+ground+cover&FORM=AWIR

My favorite variety is sempervivum tectorum, but you could mix and match different varieties to get a really cool range of colors and shapes.

**Gymnogyps**

I'm in a similar situation, with needing groundcover under trees, soon to add a pond (hopefully). I went for Pachysandra, like gorgon mentioned. They are evidently very hardy, one of the few things that will actually grow under pine trees from what I understand. Good looking plants but may grow a little tall for your needs.

Since you're going for part shade, unfortunately mints, rosemary and the wildflower mixes might have a hard time, depending on how much sun they get.

I'll try to find some Hens and Chicks, too. Thanks for that suggestion, rubiksnoob!

Edit - Better Homes and Gardens lists Japanese Spurge (the common name for Pachysandra) as hardy in zones 4-8. It does grow 8-12" high, though.

**Ouze**

Ok, thanks for the ideas. I'm going to stop by the home store this weekend and see what I can find from these postings.

**rubiksnoob**

Let us know what you decide on!

Just to show how fast the semps grow, here's a pic of some that I used in a little container garden, planted around mid/late March last year:

Spoiler:

Aaaand here they are not three months into summer the same year:

Spoiler:

In the year since, I've put the big ones in the ground and they've spread over a large portion of the rock garden I've got by the patio, probably about 5-6 square feet or so. Mind you, this cover has spread from 4 or 5 plants, and not during the prime growing season either. I've also clipped dozens upon dozens of chicks and given them away to people, put them in pots, and put them elsewhere in the yard/garden. In the second pic you can see the runners they send out spilling over the edge of the container; each one probably ended up spawning a dozen new chicks.

Just another pic, because semps are just too damn cool:

Spoiler:

**Ouze**

As a (belated) update, I was able to find lots of Hen & Chicks and Japanese Spurge; planting them today. Thanks again