I live in an HOA subdivision that requires me to have trees in the medium-sized front yard and space between the sidewalk and street. in my yard, I have 3 live oaks and a pine tree. the trees have been in place for 20 years. I am also in zone 9.
well, the grass has died under the trees. I do not want to put sod back in since there is a lot of shade. I was thinking of putting in frogfruit, silver ponysfoot, or horse herb.
Any suggestions for a ground covering that won't make the HOA clutch their pearls? I prefer native plants, too.
old screen shot from last year. I have plans to change the plant beds near the house
by ghostwriter536
7 Comments
where are you and what exact species of tree are those? I know the california coast live oak is sometimes referred to as live oak too, in that case I would have some suggestions
I was going to recommend ponysfoot and frogfruit, so I think you’re on the right track with those two. I’d start there and add diversity as needed
You should get an arborist to trim your trees. You’ll get a lot more light if you raise and thin the canopy. It doesn’t have to be super drastic but a little bit more light will help a lot.
This looks like Austin, TX. I had lots of success with inland sea oats and Turks cap in the shade. Inland sea oats will spread easily, and it’s not short but I think it looks cool and after we had it for a few years we started having fireflies. Lots of bugs like them.
I used to have ponyfoot in the area between the sidewalk and road when we lived in TX. It took a long long time to spread out and cover the whole area. So maybe start with a lot to help it get going.
Or just make attractive shapes of mulch.
>mulch volcano
What grows under them in your region? Hard to give recommendations based only by zone.
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