What groundcover will outcompete the weeds and be manageable?
I want to plant something in this section that can serve as nice ground cover to mitigate weed growth, but also be something that can be reasonably maintained 🙂
Have you ever used Preen to help with weeds? Put it down before it’s going to rain or soak it with hose and it definitely helps
dweeb_plus_plus
Why not fill that in with more ornamental plants? You’d be fighting weeds by depriving them of light and nutrients while not having to look at 1/4 acre of mulch.
Scared_Category6311
mint
/s
beaverlover3
Not a lot outcompetes nutsedge (the grass looking plant). Two ways to tackle the problem: sedgehammer plus or digging it up. Keep in mind when digging it out, there are little balls attached to the roots that can go down several inches. If you don’t get the balls out, it will come back in short order.
Are you irrigating this? Looks wet except around the bushes. Though I supposed that could be rain, too
Lopsided-Permission2
Moss,ajuga phlox and thyme
knowone23
Ajuga.
Stingy_Arachnid
I love using sedum. It does well amongst the weeds in my yard. Key word amongst. You won’t ever rid the area of weeds but you can find plants that will grow taller and be able to sustain the competition. Sedum for me never fails. It gets nice and bushy and I just can’t see the weeds beneath it
redituser73022
Creeping phlox or juniper
Beneficial_Matter424
Nothing will beat Dichondra Silver falls for beauty there
LetsPontoon
Foam flower and fern
CorbuGlasses
Pachysandra procumbens aka the native species of pachysandra if it’s shady
Callirhoe involucruta for sunnier areas
Latter-Assignment845
Pachysandra
muddymar
Hosta. A lot of ground cover lets weeds get through but hosta is taller and with its wide leaves it will cover and fill in nicely. It needs some shade though. I have huge beds with hosta and it’s pretty maintenance free. The hummingbirds also love them when they bloom.
facedownasteroidup
periwinkle
jinxie395
Ground cover, some bushes/flowers further in. Give it an intentional edge of dirt/mulch just a few inches and it’ll look like it is intentional
Reasonable-Teach7155
I’m a huge fan of pachysandra for stuff like that. And it’s evergreen so you’ll have color in the winter
ghostflower25
Lambs ear
Embarrassed_Bite_754
Location would be nice because the answer depends in where you are.
What5YourName
If you want to put in the work at the beginning, do a thorough weeding, scrape the top couple inches of dirt (to remove future seeds) and then add fresh soil and probably vinca or epinedium. If you are okay with a little chemicals sprinkle some Preen in case the pesky dandilion seed decides to land there
GrayPanther007
Outsidepride Red Clover. It gorgeous, smells great, and usually dominates. The other ground cover I like is Orange California Poppy. Also a pretty dominate strain. Not sure what region you are in. These were my go to varieties in the Pacific Northwest. The bees love them too.
streachh
What kind of sun exposure does this get? That’ll make a big difference in your choices.
If you want it to look jungle-y and you don’t want weeds, you need dense plantings that shade the ground. Low growing ground covers generally allow weeds to grow over them, and then it’s even more of a pain to weed honestly.
The only low growing ground cover that I’ve ever seen be weed-proof is wild ginger, asarum canadense. It is not super fast growing, but once established it creates a damn near impenetrable mat of runners that tie together like ropes. It doesn’t like full sun, it’s happiest in part shade. It can be sort of difficult to source, your best bet is a native plant nursery. Find a native plant group and they can hopefully point you in the right direction. Get a bunch of plugs of it, plant them no more than a few inches apart and they will fill in. You’ll have to weed until it’s established, but once it’s established the only maintenance is fall cleanup. The leaves sensesce and then you can just scoop them up with a rake.
If that’s not an option, I would suggest something taller and very dense. You can do a mix of wildflowers like black eyed Susan, coneflower, lobelia, penstemon, etc for a colorful look. Plant them almost touching; any space you leave will be filled by weeds, so disregard any spacing guidelines. If things get overgrown you can prune them, them handle it just fine. Tallest in the back, shortest in the front. Consider the Chelsea chop to keep them from flopping, not necessary though.
If you like hummingbirds, aim for tubular flowers like salvia, monarda, etc.
Overall my biggest piece of advice is to find a native plant group. Native plant gardening is all about unfussy beauty, low maintenance, and beneficial to the environment.
Spruce-W4yne
I like sedum. Dragons breath or yellow sedum look nice on brick. Add a small outcropping stone to really set it off.
WTFiswithStupid
Goats beard, mint, penny royal. There are many ground-cover plants or similar that will grow into a carpet, filling in all open spaces in a flower bed, and choking out weeds.
Ok-Calligrapher-8778
A hoe is the only thing that would beat them…
A runner up would be landscape fabric (or burlap) and gravel on top of it. River rock for better aesthetics. Stay away from mulch.
After a few seasons they will probably be weak enough so some groundcover can stand a chance.
Socsquatch
Get a stirrup hoe. Its fun and easy on the back and knees. I can basically clear out my 3 15×5 flowerbeds in about 15 mins. As a bonus, it helps till and aerate the soil a bit
AdobeGardener
Ground covers are tricky. Many can be aggressive. Or the wrong one can be too thin and protect weed seeds so they sprout.
If you have sun there, I’ve had good luck with the Emerald blue moss phlox. Stays evergreen in my zone 5 garden, nice spring flowers. While it’s recommended to trim off the spent flowers, I don’t as the foliage grows over them in my yard. It’s a nice tight mound but there will be some weed growth at first that you need to control. I put down cardboard and shredded mulch around them to limit that. I’ve planted purple and pink too – the blue is bigger (mine is about 2.5 ft round by just under 12″h) and hardier than other colors (although they are certainly striking). Eventually they may get woody and need replacing but they are easy to pull out. My blues are 7 years old.
I also have minus thyme (evergreen too) that grows extremely thick and only 1″ h, but is very slow. Eventually forms a cushiony mound about 24″x24″x 1″. But it stays where you put it (I find other thymes really – really! – reseeds, plus they travel as the old growth dies back). It also flowers pink that bloom then disappears into the foliage (no trimming). Very few weeds can grow thru it but you need to be careful to keep any from encroaching from the side.
Another good groundcover is a perennial geranium. There are many varieties, some with better looking foliage than others, longer bloom times. I use New Hampshire geranium because it has a vivid magenta flower that I love, plus fall leaf colors, long bloom, fast grower. (It’s the true perennial geranium, not the annual fancy pelargonium called geraniums). They spread out, so need room (3’x3’x1.5’h). They can also reseed if you let the flowers set seeds but are generally easy to pull out. They live for years and can easily be cut back to refresh the growth.
For an evergreen conifer groundcover, I love Juniperus procumbens (Japanese garden juniper – Not Greenmound!). Easy to trim, pretty color, very tight growth – needs a 6′ area if you’re not fond of pruning it back. Nothing grows under mine. As with all junipers, needs good drainage so I add gravel to my clay soil. Of all my plants, I’ve never had any problems with mine.
I get regular rains, with some droughty times – I don’t give extra water to any of them.
Past-Artichoke-7876
Pachysandra
TravelInfinity360
Put strawberries in if you don’t spray chemicals, it will take over that area
Brilliant-Parsley941
Wild Virginia strawberry works great and you can eat the berries. It does well in sun or shade.
fiera6
Reach out to your local plant society to get a native recommendation. We had some non-native ground cover, pretty, but didn’t always do great year to year. We added some horseherb and frogfruit (native for our area) and it took over. It’s gorgeous! Plus the bees are back for the teeny tiny flowers!
34 Comments
Heather
How did you get a picture of my house?
BTW, I live in zone 6B/7A
Have you ever used Preen to help with weeds? Put it down before it’s going to rain or soak it with hose and it definitely helps
Why not fill that in with more ornamental plants? You’d be fighting weeds by depriving them of light and nutrients while not having to look at 1/4 acre of mulch.
mint
/s
Not a lot outcompetes nutsedge (the grass looking plant). Two ways to tackle the problem: sedgehammer plus or digging it up. Keep in mind when digging it out, there are little balls attached to the roots that can go down several inches. If you don’t get the balls out, it will come back in short order.
Are you irrigating this? Looks wet except around the bushes. Though I supposed that could be rain, too
Moss,ajuga phlox and thyme
Ajuga.
I love using sedum. It does well amongst the weeds in my yard. Key word amongst. You won’t ever rid the area of weeds but you can find plants that will grow taller and be able to sustain the competition. Sedum for me never fails. It gets nice and bushy and I just can’t see the weeds beneath it
Creeping phlox or juniper
Nothing will beat Dichondra Silver falls for beauty there
Foam flower and fern
Pachysandra procumbens aka the native species of pachysandra if it’s shady
Callirhoe involucruta for sunnier areas
Pachysandra
Hosta. A lot of ground cover lets weeds get through but hosta is taller and with its wide leaves it will cover and fill in nicely. It needs some shade though. I have huge beds with hosta and it’s pretty maintenance free. The hummingbirds also love them when they bloom.
periwinkle
Ground cover, some bushes/flowers further in. Give it an intentional edge of dirt/mulch just a few inches and it’ll look like it is intentional
I’m a huge fan of pachysandra for stuff like that. And it’s evergreen so you’ll have color in the winter
Lambs ear
Location would be nice because the answer depends in where you are.
If you want to put in the work at the beginning, do a thorough weeding, scrape the top couple inches of dirt (to remove future seeds) and then add fresh soil and probably vinca or epinedium. If you are okay with a little chemicals sprinkle some Preen in case the pesky dandilion seed decides to land there
Outsidepride Red Clover. It gorgeous, smells great, and usually dominates. The other ground cover I like is Orange California Poppy. Also a pretty dominate strain. Not sure what region you are in. These were my go to varieties in the Pacific Northwest. The bees love them too.
What kind of sun exposure does this get? That’ll make a big difference in your choices.
If you want it to look jungle-y and you don’t want weeds, you need dense plantings that shade the ground. Low growing ground covers generally allow weeds to grow over them, and then it’s even more of a pain to weed honestly.
The only low growing ground cover that I’ve ever seen be weed-proof is wild ginger, asarum canadense. It is not super fast growing, but once established it creates a damn near impenetrable mat of runners that tie together like ropes. It doesn’t like full sun, it’s happiest in part shade. It can be sort of difficult to source, your best bet is a native plant nursery. Find a native plant group and they can hopefully point you in the right direction. Get a bunch of plugs of it, plant them no more than a few inches apart and they will fill in. You’ll have to weed until it’s established, but once it’s established the only maintenance is fall cleanup. The leaves sensesce and then you can just scoop them up with a rake.
If that’s not an option, I would suggest something taller and very dense. You can do a mix of wildflowers like black eyed Susan, coneflower, lobelia, penstemon, etc for a colorful look. Plant them almost touching; any space you leave will be filled by weeds, so disregard any spacing guidelines. If things get overgrown you can prune them, them handle it just fine. Tallest in the back, shortest in the front. Consider the Chelsea chop to keep them from flopping, not necessary though.
If you like hummingbirds, aim for tubular flowers like salvia, monarda, etc.
Overall my biggest piece of advice is to find a native plant group. Native plant gardening is all about unfussy beauty, low maintenance, and beneficial to the environment.
I like sedum. Dragons breath or yellow sedum look nice on brick. Add a small outcropping stone to really set it off.
Goats beard, mint, penny royal. There are many ground-cover plants or similar that will grow into a carpet, filling in all open spaces in a flower bed, and choking out weeds.
A hoe is the only thing that would beat them…
A runner up would be landscape fabric (or burlap) and gravel on top of it. River rock for better aesthetics. Stay away from mulch.
After a few seasons they will probably be weak enough so some groundcover can stand a chance.
Get a stirrup hoe. Its fun and easy on the back and knees. I can basically clear out my 3 15×5 flowerbeds in about 15 mins. As a bonus, it helps till and aerate the soil a bit
Ground covers are tricky. Many can be aggressive. Or the wrong one can be too thin and protect weed seeds so they sprout.
If you have sun there, I’ve had good luck with the Emerald blue moss phlox. Stays evergreen in my zone 5 garden, nice spring flowers. While it’s recommended to trim off the spent flowers, I don’t as the foliage grows over them in my yard. It’s a nice tight mound but there will be some weed growth at first that you need to control. I put down cardboard and shredded mulch around them to limit that. I’ve planted purple and pink too – the blue is bigger (mine is about 2.5 ft round by just under 12″h) and hardier than other colors (although they are certainly striking). Eventually they may get woody and need replacing but they are easy to pull out. My blues are 7 years old.
I also have minus thyme (evergreen too) that grows extremely thick and only 1″ h, but is very slow. Eventually forms a cushiony mound about 24″x24″x 1″. But it stays where you put it (I find other thymes really – really! – reseeds, plus they travel as the old growth dies back). It also flowers pink that bloom then disappears into the foliage (no trimming). Very few weeds can grow thru it but you need to be careful to keep any from encroaching from the side.
Another good groundcover is a perennial geranium. There are many varieties, some with better looking foliage than others, longer bloom times. I use New Hampshire geranium because it has a vivid magenta flower that I love, plus fall leaf colors, long bloom, fast grower. (It’s the true perennial geranium, not the annual fancy pelargonium called geraniums). They spread out, so need room (3’x3’x1.5’h). They can also reseed if you let the flowers set seeds but are generally easy to pull out. They live for years and can easily be cut back to refresh the growth.
For an evergreen conifer groundcover, I love Juniperus procumbens (Japanese garden juniper – Not Greenmound!). Easy to trim, pretty color, very tight growth – needs a 6′ area if you’re not fond of pruning it back. Nothing grows under mine. As with all junipers, needs good drainage so I add gravel to my clay soil. Of all my plants, I’ve never had any problems with mine.
I get regular rains, with some droughty times – I don’t give extra water to any of them.
Pachysandra
Put strawberries in if you don’t spray chemicals, it will take over that area
Wild Virginia strawberry works great and you can eat the berries. It does well in sun or shade.
Reach out to your local plant society to get a native recommendation. We had some non-native ground cover, pretty, but didn’t always do great year to year. We added some horseherb and frogfruit (native for our area) and it took over. It’s gorgeous! Plus the bees are back for the teeny tiny flowers!
Native sedges/ grasses. They have deep roots.