GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

David Hare-Scott[_2_] · 16-06-2010, 08:42 AM posted to aus.gardens

wrote:
On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:43:46 +1000, "David Hare-Scott"
wrote:

What would be the hardiest groundcovers to use next to a sal****er
swimming pool in Sydney? It is a sunny position. I want a dense
groundcover to stop the weeds.

How far from the pool? Will it experience the patter of little
feet? What is the soil like? What have you tried there?

It is a new pool, I had 5 m of garden mix delivered so the soil will
be very good. I haven't tried anything yet, but the plants will be
between 1 and 2 m from the pool so they will probably get splashed.

There are things that will grow in salty soil but they are not
likely to take foot traffic and they are not that dense that they
will exclude everything else. Maybe somebody else can name a
miracle plant that will do the job but I would be thinking of
astroturf or pavers.

I had one idea in case people tread on them, juniperus conferta, very
spiky! :-)

So dealing with foot traffic is not an issue and the sun and soil are good.
Hopefully the small amount of salt won't be a big problem either, it will
tend to leach out to some extent in a high rainfall area like Sydney. It
seems to me you have quite a range of choice. Why not get some books from
the library that have landscaping plants or plants by usage category (eg
Swane's 'Australian Gardening') and go through the chapters on ground cover
for some you like.

David