shady ground covers
 

Hello,
I have a wooded area that I want to replace the weeds with attractive
groundcovers. I have fresh dirt and need to plant. Would planting from
seed take too long? I am having a hard time finding the plants. Most mail
order companies won't ship until the fall and I can't really wait that long.
I am looking for suggestions. Thank you.
Jody

shady ground covers
 

It depends Jody. You haven't mentioned what planting zone your in, etc. But
as a general rule, planting ground cover seeds in mid summer doesn't sound
very productive. The reasons why the mail order companies aren't shipping
those kind of plants now is because it's not a good time to do so. That
shouldn't deter you from pulling out all the weeds, herbaciding two weeks
later for sprout eradication, than roto-tilling and amending the soil in
preparation for fall. It will keep you busy.
"Jody" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I have a wooded area that I want to replace the weeds with attractive
groundcovers. I have fresh dirt and need to plant. Would planting from
seed take too long? I am having a hard time finding the plants. Most
mail
order companies won't ship until the fall and I can't really wait that
long.
I am looking for suggestions. Thank you.
Jody

shady ground covers
 

J. Caldwell,
I am in zone 6 (Near Philadelphia, PA). I figured since it was a woodland
site that gets filtered light I could plant. I did pick up some ground
covers and some perennials at the local nursery. I am going to put these in
now and I was thinking of putting down a mulch that will decompose easily.
I do not have access to a rototill and use only organic products.
(Difficult task with the kinds of weeds that grow in woodland areas. The
vines seem to go on forever underground.) That does limit me in regards to
herbicides. There are some natural products on the market that I am going
to try. Any suggestions on this would be of great value. I understand that
mail order catalogs aren't shipping plants because the summer heat does not
allow for safe shipping. Anyway, thanks for your response and advice.
Sincerely,
Jody
"J.Caldwell" wrote in message
...
It depends Jody. You haven't mentioned what planting zone your in, etc.
But
as a general rule, planting ground cover seeds in mid summer doesn't sound
very productive. The reasons why the mail order companies aren't shipping
those kind of plants now is because it's not a good time to do so. That
shouldn't deter you from pulling out all the weeds, herbaciding two weeks
later for sprout eradication, than roto-tilling and amending the soil in
preparation for fall. It will keep you busy.
"Jody" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I have a wooded area that I want to replace the weeds with attractive
groundcovers. I have fresh dirt and need to plant. Would planting from
seed take too long? I am having a hard time finding the plants. Most
mail
order companies won't ship until the fall and I can't really wait that
long.
I am looking for suggestions. Thank you.
Jody

shady ground covers
 

Hi Jody,

I was waiting for you to post your location. I'm in zone 5b- Chicago,
and for shade area groundcover I see lots of vinca, ivy, and
wintercreeper amongst others. If you want a nice bright taller
plant/groundcover, Bishop's Weed is attractive (IMO), but is VERY
aggressive. Spreads quickly too.

Good luck.

shady ground covers
 

In article ,
(Guglielmo Portas) wrote:

Hi Jody,

I was waiting for you to post your location. I'm in zone 5b- Chicago,
and for shade area groundcover I see lots of vinca, ivy, and
wintercreeper amongst others. If you want a nice bright taller
plant/groundcover, Bishop's Weed is attractive (IMO), but is VERY
aggressive. Spreads quickly too.

Good luck.

Hello,
I'm in Zone 7, Carolina, but you might also try Ajuga. Nice purple
spears in spring, cover with leaves/straw in winter. Spreads if
fertilized. Real low ground cover, maybe in front. Also, creeping
euonymus is cool. Hope it helps,

hands in dirt,
b

shady ground covers
 

How about taking a walk through a wooded area and see what is growing native
to the area? Most bulbs look nice in a wooded area if you just throw them
out and plant where they land. Bleeding hearts do well in wooded areas and
grow very well in the Philly area. I helped my friend in Philly completely
renovate her yard to look "natural" since it is a pre-revolutionary house in
Chestnut Hill, and it looks AWESOME, like all the things we planted grew
there naturally. She isn't much of a gardener, and it still looks great 3
years later.

Good luck!

Suzi

"Jody" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I have a wooded area that I want to replace the weeds with attractive
groundcovers. I have fresh dirt and need to plant. Would planting from
seed take too long? I am having a hard time finding the plants. Most
mail
order companies won't ship until the fall and I can't really wait that
long.
I am looking for suggestions. Thank you.
Jody

shady ground covers
 

I like lamium for wetter areas. Or, if you can get some hosta growing in
between trees, it reproduces every year.

When I lived in zone 5b in Ohio, I had a HUGE stand of Royal Standard Hosta.
It was always an eye catcher with shiny leaves (very green and lush) and I
even divided it and sold large 1 gallon samples for a few dollars apiece
every year (at a block garage sale). Now I'm in California, where the soil
is sandy and rock hard, the sun is hot, and the soil is mucho acidic! (No
more hosta except in containers.) There's a pic at
http://www.millernursery.com/perenni...lStandard.htm. The only
secret is watering a lot the first year.

Good luck.

--Ashley Burns



"Jody" wrote in her message:

J. Caldwell,
I am in zone 6 (Near Philadelphia, PA). I figured since it was a woodland
site that gets filtered light I could plant. I did pick up some ground
covers and some perennials at the local nursery. I am going to put these
in
now and I was thinking of putting down a mulch that will decompose easily.
I do not have access to a rototill and use only organic products.
(Difficult task with the kinds of weeds that grow in woodland areas. The
vines seem to go on forever underground.) That does limit me in regards
to
herbicides. There are some natural products on the market that I am going
to try. Any suggestions on this would be of great value. I understand
that
mail order catalogs aren't shipping plants because the summer heat does
not
allow for safe shipping. Anyway, thanks for your response and advice.
Sincerely,
Jody
"J.Caldwell" wrote in message
...
It depends Jody. You haven't mentioned what planting zone your in, etc.
But
as a general rule, planting ground cover seeds in mid summer doesn't
sound
very productive. The reasons why the mail order companies aren't
shipping
those kind of plants now is because it's not a good time to do so. That
shouldn't deter you from pulling out all the weeds, herbaciding two
weeks
later for sprout eradication, than roto-tilling and amending the soil in
preparation for fall. It will keep you busy.
"Jody" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I have a wooded area that I want to replace the weeds with attractive
groundcovers. I have fresh dirt and need to plant. Would planting
from
seed take too long? I am having a hard time finding the plants. Most
mail
order companies won't ship until the fall and I can't really wait that
long.
I am looking for suggestions. Thank you.
Jody

shady ground covers
 

Thank you all for your tips. A lot of the plants you mentioned I found at a
local nursery already. Some of the other ones I couldn't find so I was
trying to get them from a mail order nursery but I can't do that until the
fall. One of the questions I still have is whether you can grow some of
these type of perennials from seed. Also, we cleared the land of poison and
other nuisance plants and don't want them to grow back by the time these
plants get established or planted (since many I can't get until the fall).
I really am looking for a solution to cover the raw ground with until that
point so the weeds don't come back. I also need some type of organic weed
killer for the ones who do make an appearance. Is there anyone out there
who has experience with organic weed killers?

"The Data Rat" wrote in message
news:1OIHc.3582$li.3235@lakeread06...
How about taking a walk through a wooded area and see what is growing
native
to the area? Most bulbs look nice in a wooded area if you just throw them
out and plant where they land. Bleeding hearts do well in wooded areas
and
grow very well in the Philly area. I helped my friend in Philly
completely
renovate her yard to look "natural" since it is a pre-revolutionary house
in
Chestnut Hill, and it looks AWESOME, like all the things we planted grew
there naturally. She isn't much of a gardener, and it still looks great 3
years later.

Good luck!

Suzi

"Jody" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I have a wooded area that I want to replace the weeds with attractive
groundcovers. I have fresh dirt and need to plant. Would planting from
seed take too long? I am having a hard time finding the plants. Most
mail
order companies won't ship until the fall and I can't really wait that
long.
I am looking for suggestions. Thank you.
Jody

shady ground covers
 

"Jody" wrote in message
...
| Also, we cleared the land of poison and
| other nuisance plants and don't want them to grow back by the time these
| plants get established or planted (since many I can't get until the fall).
| I really am looking for a solution to cover the raw ground with until that
| point so the weeds don't come back. I also need some type of organic weed
| killer for the ones who do make an appearance. Is there anyone out there
| who has experience with organic weed killers?

One option is covering the area with black plastic or a lot of newspaper.
The newspaper will eventually decompose too. You may want to do a search at
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/ and under the organic garden forum. I
get a ton of info from the Garden Web forum.

shady ground covers
 

"BonnieJean" wrote in message ...
"Jody" wrote in message
...
| Also, we cleared the land of poison and
| other nuisance plants and don't want them to grow back by the time these
| plants get established or planted (since many I can't get until the fall).
| I really am looking for a solution to cover the raw ground with until that
| point so the weeds don't come back. I also need some type of organic weed
| killer for the ones who do make an appearance. Is there anyone out there
| who has experience with organic weed killers?

One option is covering the area with black plastic or a lot of newspaper.
The newspaper will eventually decompose too. You may want to do a search at
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/ and under the organic garden forum. I
get a ton of info from the Garden Web forum.


You could use peat moss, which decomposes faster than a wood chip
mulch. I'd forget about organic weed killers for poison ivy. That's
hard enough to kill with regular weed killer. Of the choices
available, Roundup is probably the safest vegetation killer, but it
will probably take multiple applications to kill poison ivy.

shady ground covers
 

Great suggestions! Thank you.
"Chet Hayes" wrote in message
m...
"BonnieJean" wrote in message
...
"Jody" wrote in message
...
| Also, we cleared the land of poison and
| other nuisance plants and don't want them to grow back by the time
these
| plants get established or planted (since many I can't get until the
fall).
| I really am looking for a solution to cover the raw ground with until
that
| point so the weeds don't come back. I also need some type of organic
weed
| killer for the ones who do make an appearance. Is there anyone out
there
| who has experience with organic weed killers?

One option is covering the area with black plastic or a lot of
newspaper.
The newspaper will eventually decompose too. You may want to do a search
at
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/ and under the organic garden forum.
I
get a ton of info from the Garden Web forum.


You could use peat moss, which decomposes faster than a wood chip
mulch. I'd forget about organic weed killers for poison ivy. That's
hard enough to kill with regular weed killer. Of the choices
available, Roundup is probably the safest vegetation killer, but it
will probably take multiple applications to kill poison ivy.