Here we live, my wife and I, Maddie the year old herding dog , and
Buffy the much older parakeet. Our first house, Yorktown area
Westchester County Ny.
Big back yard, about a third acre of lawn. Maddie's play area, electric
fence.
There's a big square ( 15' X 15' ) of basicly sand. Only thing level in
the yard. We're on a hillside. I'm told there was an aboveground pool
there years ago. Sand held the bottom. There were grasses and weeds
growing on it when we first got here late last summer. Apparently the
last owners had put some top soil on it and tried to garden - with
little luck.
When I turned the soil over a week or so ago, I brought up all the
sand. Have been digging some sand out and replacing with soil from
around the area.
Any idea for a ground cover that likes somewhat sandy soil , perennial
, but blooms most of the season ?
Want to keep the bloom height low so that Maddie the dog can still run
across it and catch her frisbee.
Hard to find a plant with all those attributes. Maybe I need to
understand how to plant a basicly low green groundcover then some other
plants that bloom low at different times thoughout the season ?
Am thinking now : SOAPWORT ? or DIANTHUS ?
Would really appreciate any help.

Marty

"voicelit" wrote in message
oups.com...
Here we live, my wife and I, Maddie the year old herding dog , and
Buffy the much older parakeet. Our first house, Yorktown area
Westchester County Ny.
Big back yard, about a third acre of lawn. Maddie's play area, electric
fence.
There's a big square ( 15' X 15' ) of basicly sand. Only thing level in
the yard. We're on a hillside. I'm told there was an aboveground pool
there years ago. Sand held the bottom. There were grasses and weeds
growing on it when we first got here late last summer. Apparently the
last owners had put some top soil on it and tried to garden - with
little luck.
When I turned the soil over a week or so ago, I brought up all the
sand. Have been digging some sand out and replacing with soil from
around the area.
Any idea for a ground cover that likes somewhat sandy soil , perennial
, but blooms most of the season ?
Want to keep the bloom height low so that Maddie the dog can still run
across it and catch her frisbee.
Hard to find a plant with all those attributes. Maybe I need to
understand how to plant a basicly low green groundcover then some other
plants that bloom low at different times thoughout the season ?
Am thinking now : SOAPWORT ? or DIANTHUS ?
Would really appreciate any help.

Marty



How big's this dog gonna get? Most plants will not put up with being
trampled. If you can forgo flowers, pachysandra's about as bulletproof a
plant as you'll ever find. Even so, you'll need to give it a few months to
get a grip. After that, not much will hurt it.

Dog's full grown: about 45 lb. Girl, Australian kelpie mix.
Garden area is FULL SUN.
What about the SoapWort ?

Marty

"voicelit" wrote in message
oups.com...
Dog's full grown: about 45 lb. Girl, Australian kelpie mix.
Garden area is FULL SUN.
What about the SoapWort ?

Marty


I'm not familiar with soap wort.

http://www.fernlea.com/perenn/variety/saponar.htm



I'm not familiar with soap wort.

"readandpostrosie" wrote in message
...
I'm not familiar with soap wort.



http://www.fernlea.com/perenn/variety/saponar.htm




Interesting, but by "familiar", I mean a plant I've taken warm showers with.
Met in person, grown for a number of years, like pachysandra. I had it at my
previous house, in a spot where huge icicles formed in the winter. I'm
talking about 10 lb chunks of ice. They'd fall on the pachysandra. On warmer
days, water would drip all over the plants, and freeze at night, encasing
the plants in ice. I think they could put up with a stupid dog who didn't
know that plants aren't meant to be stomped on.

Interesting, but by "familiar", I mean a plant I've taken warm showers
with.
Met in person, grown for a number of years, like pachysandra. I had it at
my previous house, in a spot where huge icicles formed in the winter. I'm
talking about 10 lb chunks of ice. They'd fall on the pachysandra. On
warmer days, water would drip all over the plants, and freeze at night,
encasing the plants in ice. I think they could put up with a stupid dog
who didn't know that plants aren't meant to be stomped on.


how does pachysandra work in partial shade?
do deer eat it?

"readandpostrosie" wrote in message
...

Interesting, but by "familiar", I mean a plant I've taken warm showers
with.
Met in person, grown for a number of years, like pachysandra. I had it at
my previous house, in a spot where huge icicles formed in the winter. I'm
talking about 10 lb chunks of ice. They'd fall on the pachysandra. On
warmer days, water would drip all over the plants, and freeze at night,
encasing the plants in ice. I think they could put up with a stupid dog
who didn't know that plants aren't meant to be stomped on.


how does pachysandra work in partial shade?
do deer eat it?


My neighbor's got a big patch of it. The deer don't seem to be touching it
at all. 30 feet away, they made a mess of my garden last year, so I know
they're here. Actually, the *******s stand right in my yard and look at me
like I have no business being there.

The plant does fine in full shade or sun. In the previous house, it got
about 2 hours' worth of sun in the morning. My neighbor's gets about 4-5
hours of sun. I don't see much difference in the growth habits, although I
haven't inspected hers that closely (yet).

thanks!

Interesting, but by "familiar", I mean a plant I've taken warm showers
with.
Met in person, grown for a number of years, like pachysandra. I had it
at my previous house, in a spot where huge icicles formed in the winter.
I'm talking about 10 lb chunks of ice. They'd fall on the pachysandra.
On warmer days, water would drip all over the plants, and freeze at
night, encasing the plants in ice. I think they could put up with a
stupid dog who didn't know that plants aren't meant to be stomped on.


how does pachysandra work in partial shade?
do deer eat it?


My neighbor's got a big patch of it. The deer don't seem to be touching it
at all. 30 feet away, they made a mess of my garden last year, so I know
they're here. Actually, the *******s stand right in my yard and look at me
like I have no business being there.

The plant does fine in full shade or sun. In the previous house, it got
about 2 hours' worth of sun in the morning. My neighbor's gets about 4-5
hours of sun. I don't see much difference in the growth habits, although I
haven't inspected hers that closely (yet).

"readandpostrosie" wrote in message
...
thanks!

Interesting, but by "familiar", I mean a plant I've taken warm showers
with.
Met in person, grown for a number of years, like pachysandra. I had it
at my previous house, in a spot where huge icicles formed in the
winter. I'm talking about 10 lb chunks of ice. They'd fall on the
pachysandra. On warmer days, water would drip all over the plants, and
freeze at night, encasing the plants in ice. I think they could put up
with a stupid dog who didn't know that plants aren't meant to be
stomped on.


how does pachysandra work in partial shade?
do deer eat it?


My neighbor's got a big patch of it. The deer don't seem to be touching
it at all. 30 feet away, they made a mess of my garden last year, so I
know they're here. Actually, the *******s stand right in my yard and look
at me like I have no business being there.

The plant does fine in full shade or sun. In the previous house, it got
about 2 hours' worth of sun in the morning. My neighbor's gets about 4-5
hours of sun. I don't see much difference in the growth habits, although
I haven't inspected hers that closely (yet).





By the way, they're not cheap. Usually sold in "flats" for ten bucks or so,
containing lots of plants. But, it ends up being like a penny a year, since
they seem to last forever.