On 7/19/2008 7:17 PM, Dick Adams wrote:
I plan to sell my house in 2009. The grass, front
and back, is a bad mix of whatever. Rather than
having it torn up and relaced with rolls of grass,
I'd like to tear it up and replace it with plugs
of groud cover. I am completely ignorant of ground
cover and would appreciate suggestions.

Dick

My front lawn was planted with pink clover (Persicaria capitata, not
really a clover but with clover-like flowers). This was done about 8-9
months ago on 18-inch centers; rooted plants -- not plugs -- were used.
Now, the ground cover is thick enough to crowd out most weeds. It took
a lot of water to reach this state, but I can start to cut back on the
water since the pink clover totally shades the soil.

Note, however, my climate. Pink clover is hardy only to about 15F. As
an evergreen ground cover, it likely will not tolerate a persistent
cover of snow. (Actually, when we get frost, it turns red; it then
reverts to green when the weather warms in the spring.) I suspect that,
if the past winter here had 15F temperatures, my pink clover might not
have spread as quickly as it did. "kzin" is quite correct; you really
need to tell us where you are so that we know what your climate is.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/