"Philip Edward Lewis" wrote in message
du...

of course paghat's "impermiable layer" of groundcover is great too....
it'll likely look much nicer, but will likely require at least a little
more
work over time. I've not alot of expereance with the groundcovers in
that enviroment, but i know i've seen weeds, etc popping through some
pretty thick stuff.

There will be weeds in groundcover, especially the first few years.
Eventually, they will all but disappear. You can use a preemergent
herbicide to control annual weeds. Preen has a formulation for
groundcover. The worst situation is when you get a vining weeds in a vining
groundcover. I have an area of vinca that became invaded with a sequence of
wild honeysuckle, then persicaria, and finally wild strawberry. I still get
the occasional volunteer tree or perennial in the area, but they are easy to
control. Hostas are one of the best groundcovers for me. They block out
the sun so completely that I never get weeds in areas that are thickly
planted with hostas. There are hostas that will grow in about any condition
with the exception of standing water, especial in winter. I find that gold
standard is a good grower and it will brighten a shady area. Lancifolia
also grows like a weed as does aureo-marginata and undulata mediovariegata.
I get good results with hosta shade fanfare in full sun. Lancifolia also
thrives in full sun but does equally well in mostly shade.