grasses for sc lowcountry

hey yall. i have a dilemma. we want to finish our back yard and lay sod down. we did 2/3 of it, and we left the shady part under some pine trees bare in the very very back. native grasses have grown and we keep them mowed down, but we would much rather have real grass, plus they havent formed a carpet, just little patches. our yard already has centipede on the parts that we did do, and it is looking wonderful. should we put more centipede down under the 4 larg pine trees in the back, or should we get a different kind that likes shade and is drought tolerant and looks similar to centipede. we were looking at St. Augustine grass, but we didnt think that it would do well there. what do yall think? do you know of any grass that fits this description?

No grass really likes growing under pine trees. There is too much competition for water between the tree roots and the grass roots. Perhaps you could consider some ground cover for that area. Look around you neighborhood and see what others are growing successfully in similar conditions.

well it is in a high traffic area, so it will have to be able to be walked on. we might try some asiatic jasmine (trachelospermum asiaticum) where there will be a bed to be covered. some of my neighbors have just fertilized the native grasses that just grew but it can look scruffy an not very good, even when they are mowed. do you know of any groundcovers that can be stepped on sometimes?

Your kind of asking the impossible. Your not going to get grass growing under pine trees in the shade. You can get things to grow and actually love it under pines but they're bushes not something to be walked on.

Be curious to see how the Asiatic Jasmine do for you, diehrd---we couldn't get it to grow here. We had such good luck with it in N.C. that when we first got to Charleston, we planted a bunch of it (300 plants)---all gone by the 3rd year! They were planted in amended soil, under irrigation, very bright shade with little or no direct sun, no tree roots to compete with...total flop! I don't think they could take the heat/humidity. Had to go with Vincas and Ardesia japonica, which seem ok with our climate, so I'll be real curious if yours do well. Another sign that Trachelospermum asiaticum isn't well suited for the coastal area is that I've not seen them stocked by any local garden centers I've visited for the past 10 years. Maybe we weren't the only "failed gardeners" because we had no trouble finding them 20 years ago!

what is ardesia japonica? that seems funny that yall didnt have much success with T. asiaticum because in Shipyard plantation, about 1 1/2 mi from the beach my grandparents have some growing under a live oak and saw palmettos and it is doing GREAT. its climbing up the oak, into the palmettos and lorepetalum and popping up in the grass and in the neighbors' yard! the nursery that i hopefully will work @ soon for the summer was completely bought out when we went to go buy some. we are thinking about putting a bunch of azaleas back there (both hybrid and native azaleas). at a nursery here called Sunshine Nursery Landscape and Hardscape, i found some philodendron that spreads and only gets like up to 1' high. it looks like a binch of Philodendron selloum babies. i think ill try some of that back there in a little patch. we may also try cast iron plant, fatsia, and acuba japonica back there too. do you know of any other things that would like shade?

Stono, that is unbelievable! Asiatic jasmine is the most overused groundcover down here. Like Diehard says, it even grows up pine trees and forms 100' tall blooming columns in the spring. It gets really thick and a lot of folks mow it in the spring then keep it around 6" high. It gets so thick it also harbors lots of snakes.

I will take a picture of my neighbor's jasmine later and post it for you. Can't imagine why it wouldn't grow on Johns Is.

Edited to say my brain left me earlier - it is NOT asiatic jasmine that grows up trees but Confederate Jasmine. Sorry :-(


This message was edited May 8, 2007 3:49 PM

My neighbor's Asiatic Jasmine. It grows in both sun and shade for her.

They grow that at the Grand Ocean Hotel for ground cover in a sunny and shady spaces. Seems to work well but it's looks a little to snake friendly for me.

yeah it is just a welcome mat for those things. in two weeks i have seen a copperhead (2 1/4 ft) and a 3 1/2 foot black snake several unidentified snakes, one diamondback and 2 canebrake rattlesnakes. thats all that have come to mind so far... the lowcountry is full of these. At least no coral snakes have come yet... those are the worst. they have the deadliest neurotoxin in North America.

That's a most impressive stand of Asiatic Jasmine, Ardesia! Exactly the look we were trying to create, but failed miserably. Thinking back to that attempt, we planted all those things BEFORE discovering that our well water had a relatively high salt content. I discovered the salt problem after successfully killing off all our house plants using the well water within a year or two after moving in. Thought the rainwater supplement of the outdoor plants would ameliorate the salt deposits from the well water irrigation (back in the days when it actually did rain here in the low country!), but I don't think it could for some species, so they died like little soldiers... Bought 4 75 Gallon rain barrels to handle the house plants, and that problem has been solved. But it's not practical to collect rainwater to handle larger areas. I switched to pond water (essentially "rainwater", but not quite) for my azaleas, and the difference in general health was incredible! Salt content may be a factor when dtermining which species of plant will do well... And I guaronteee Asiatic Jasmine DON'T like salt in their water!

We are on city water here for irrigation but the groundwater, which is very close to the surface at high tide, is salty.

I don't know what else it could be, Ardesia. The soil tested out ok, although a little on the alkaline side (7.4---quickly adjusted that!), but all the nutrients were there. I also planted a fairly large stand of azaleas and Camellia Japonica at the same time I planted the jasmine. They didn't grow worth a hoot for 2 years (maybe an inch), and were all yellow and sickly looking. When I tumbled to the salty well water problem, I switched that bed to pond water and they've been growing well ever since (now huge!). The pond is about 300 feet from the tideline of the Stono, but fed by runoff from 4 acres away from the river side. One would think that the groundwater that close to the river would be loaded with salt, but it's not (5ppm---top of Clemson's "acceptable for irrigation" range, but seems to work). My well water is 38ppm, and I'm pulling it up from 500 ft down! If I ever see Asiatic Jasmine for sale around here, I'll buy some and put them in pots in the same area where we had the original planting. I'll water one pot with well water, one pot with pond water, and one pot with rainwater---see what happens. A classic "split plot" experimental design. I hate not knowing!