My yard receives little to no sunlight, and we have small patches of grass(if you can call them that) I would love to plant some shade tolerant ground covers... a mix of them would be nice and a few that flower. any suggestions?
A couple that come to mind are Periwinkle and Pachysandra. How much area do you want to cover and how high do you want the ground cover to grow? Jerry
Thanks I would really just like to give it free rain to do whatever it wants I'd love to have it cover about a six foot area, my lawn slops so having a few varieties tumble down would look great
In a six-foot area, about two varieties is all that you can manage. Ground covers tend to really cover! Ajuga (Ajuga reptans) takes shade and gets about 6" high. It blooms in spring and also comes in varieties with variegated foliage, which would add color even when it isn't blooming (Bronze, Burgundy Glow, and Silver Beauty). Japanese Spurge (Pachysandra terminalis) is shade loving, 4" tall, and it grows slowly. Variegata has deep green leaves with white variations. Vinca minor also known as dwarf periwinkle, is a low, trailing plant that has small blue blossoms in spring. Perennials, which most ground covers are, only bloom once a year, and that for a relatively short period. If you want some color when your ground cover isn't in bloom, you could put small containers of annuals like impatiens spotted around the area. I hope this helps!
All three, Ajuga, Periwinkle, and Pachysandra are evergreens so they cover all year round. Wintergreen is a low growing evergreen ground cover with red berries in the fall. Jerry
With that much space, ignore the "two varieties" suggestion I made. Go ahead and plant what you will!
