what is the prettiest easy to maintain Ground Cover

There is a sleep slope dividing my yard from the yard nextdoor. It is a pain to mow and the other landowner already nixed the idea of maybe smoothing it out some. It is a high slope about 5 feet running from the road between the the sides of our houses back around 40 feet so it is a very large area. So I was thinking maybe a pretty worry free ground cover would be nice. I however have no idea where to start. I would like Ground cover ideas. Something like a floral carpet what do you think?

Is the slope your property or the neighbors or is it shared? Do they do any maintenance on the slope or are you the sole caretaker? Do they care if you plant it over?
There are some sedums that are small and voracious, have blooms and very easy to propagate. Just scratch the soil a little and drop a piece onto it! Literally that easy. Being a small plant I'm not sure if the root structure would be significant enough to hold the slope if that's an issue though.
There are phlox of many types and colours that could be used, but we've never had much luck with them and stopped trying many years ago. So i don't know much about them.
Or you could go for something a little larger, that will hold the soil better and comes in about any colour you can imagine - daylillies. Call me old fashioned, but a thick, wide stand of daylillies is a beautiful sight to me. And once the fill in and thicken up they serve as a "good fence"!

edit: Is Portsmouth, OH in southern Ohio near the Kentucky border.....or actually just across the river from Kentucky? Are you near the Serpent Mound?

This message was edited Jun 18, 2010 1:14 AM

The slope itself is completely ours to maintain. The neighbors property end where the ground begins to slope. Planting on the slope is fine with the neighbor they just didn't want us to cut into their yard to smooth out the slope. Planting on the slope was what I thought to be the best solution. I would like something low to ground maybe vinelike in growth that spread quickly. There needs to be view between the two yards as our children play together in both yards and I like to be able to see them. The slope not steep enough that I worry about holding it. Just making easyier by not having to mow it.

Hi.. I's me agian... Ok questons. What kind of sun light does it get each day? And do you have the same problem with the ground as you spoke about in other posts?

Nancy.

Hi.

I thought about your situation and tried to picture the slop. We are taught about erosion in school, and most of us do not think much about it after the 8th grade, unless of course you are forced to take earth science in College as I was... So that being said, even tho you are not concerned about holding anything back, the current plants are holding back the area. When you put new plants back in even tho you may not think you need the roots to hold back the dirt you do. A 5 ' rise is quite a lot. Well I am not going to get into all the things that come to my mind about this rise, but I will say consider using both shallow rooted plants and deep rooted ones.

Also you are in a snow area, so you will want to see something in the winter months. A low spreading yew about every 15 ft. will be a nice green color to this slope. Myrtle will give you that low root that will hold the ground, give you blue and purple color, and still give you green from spring right up to winter, although not the flower all the time. As much as I love day lily, after they bloom they are a mess, and I hate cutting them back to get rid of the yellow leaves but I do. You will soon tire of doing this.

You could use Tall blubs like Daffodils which will spread, and Dutch Iris both which are tall and slender and bloom at different times giving you color.

Seedam is wonderful but when kids climb on it it gets tracked down and does not recover well. Creeping thyme will give you some color and if walked on is hot harmed, also has a nice sent, but is gone in winter.

There are dozens of coverings, like for example purple dragon. White and green leaves and purple / pink flower.

You might want to do a design where you have a 10 ft section of one type. then the yew, then another ground cover repeating till you get to the end.

Also tall and thin leaves of flowers like Cosmos will "disappear" in the ground cover when they are thru growing and the frost and show hits them. If you make a little circle in the covering using a round plastic coffee can or even a milk container or you could use bricks or even a nipple to a chinmey liner, and put the annual in that amoung the ground cover, you will have tall flowing color that will not me messy to clean up when they die.

I you decide to use two different ground covers, you will have to run something in between the two ground covers so that they do not invade each others space. a 2x6 a little in the ground and a little out will help. Also you might consider some kind a path or stepping stone type thing, to help you get into the area it in case you want to weed.

Use something like wood chips or ground leaves after planting to hold back the dirt and keep weeds from coming up. Of times you can get this type of thing free at the city garbage centers.

Ok that's my 2 cents.

Nancy

This message was edited Jun 18, 2010 10:02 PM

Thanks so much flowerjen, I don't see very well at night to begin with, and I never saw that section that allows editing.

So I looked and low and behold, I was able to change the post..

Again Thanks

Nancy.


This message was edited Jun 18, 2010 10:07 PM

Nancy you can edit your post if you need to.


Ajuga is a very easy to maintain ground cover.

Check out this website....
http://www.stepables.com/default.asp

NY the area is now simply covered with grass, it gets full sun all day as it runs east to west, and we have about a 3 month snow season. Thanks again.

We had the same problem with a steep slope between our yard and the neighbor's yard. Originally tried planting sedum but it never did well for us. We ended up planting junipers (the groundcover, not the trees!), it's spread down the entire slope, is evergreen, and once established is super drought tolerant and needs zero care. It's been on that slope now for
20+ years and except for the first year, we've never given it a drop of water & it still flourishes. Low-growing, too.

JolieB you are so right, I think I used the wrong name on the plaint I recommended. I have the same plants growing on the sides of a raised septic system. One never has to do anything but let it grow and winter months it looks great, while in the warmer weather, weeds do not get thru.

Have a great day.

That is not a bad idea with the Juniper. I actuall have that in two other areas so it would match the landscaping I already have in my lily Bed I have two Low lying junipers. I was jsut wanting some color. I seems a have lots and Green, May I could alternat Juniper with something more colorful.

I have planted vinca vine on my slope where it is too steep to mow. It grows so easily and spreads fast. I had some planted by the house and I just thinned them out some and planted then on the slope 2 weeks ago. They are doing great.

OK, I just have to chime in with a few words of warning here. :)
Ground covers can be low maintenance, but it depends on how much you care about things like weeds, dead leaves and debris living in your ground cover bed. If you care a lot, they can be very high maintenance, especially after the first few years when they fill in. It's not much fun to perch on a steep slope and pull stubborn weeds out of prickly junipers, or to pick dead leaves and debris out of old, woody ivy plants, etc. I really love the look of some ground covers (especially wild ginger, but that's a shade-lover), and it sounds like they'll be better than grass in the area you're talking about, but you should be forewarned that they're not necessarily low-maintenance.

That said, have you considered taller options like clumps of ornamental grasses? There are fairly short ones out there, as well as ones tall enough to give you some privacy if you'd like that, and they're excellent low-maintenance plants for erosion control and providing winter interest. They'd look awesome mixed in with yews or junipers in the winter . . . .

I'm not sure what is invasive in Ohio, but of the suggestions here several are VERY invasive in my neighborhood. Which means you put it in your ditch and it takes over the entire lawn. Make sure you do a little local research before you decide.

Personally I like the vinca.

You could, of course, just plant a low growing variety of grass on the slope that requires no mowing. A Bermuda or Zoysia comes to mind. That way the slope is held with a thick root-mat, it's traversable and the sight line is maintained for the children, but most importantly - no mowing! Plus those grasses can be so soft and simply beautiful in the summer. As long as there's no drought...like this year.

Just a word of caution here from one who knows only too well. I have groundcover that covers very nicely. So much so that I feel like I have 'trip wires' everywhere. I have to cut them back periodically so I'm not falling all over the place.

I'd love to pull the whole mess up and start something more tried and true. I'm afraid, however, that it's too late to get all the runners pulled up. Sigh.

Nobody mentioned ivy yet.
Many hate it but I love it
It was easy to grow and needs very little care
If you don't use the slope to walk on it will eventually cover all weeds etc.
I also dig through it and add some plants lillies etc for interest but it could stand alone.
Anne