Live in Virginia Beach, so it will grow here. Have regraded and sloped lawn away from foundation, due basement water problems. Gutters discharge at least 10 feet from house . This is a 10' wide L-shaped area between deck and house. Saw some Dwarf Mondo on a garden tour last week and the gent who was growing it says it really forms a mat. It looked like it to me. (As opposed to the full size which keeps coming up in my lawn and I can't kill for love nor money) Any experience/thoughts/recommendations would be appreciated. TIA
If it is like the dwarf mondo grass that my neighbor has, it should. Slow growing, though, so it might take a while to form said mat.
My garden book recommends mondo grass when growing on a smaller scale than where you'd plant Liriope. So I don't know if the mondo grass would look good in a 10 foot wide space.
There are also quite a few native plants which are somewhat similar but of course that will depend on where you are (here in Washington, DC I think of some of the smaller sedges and grasses, and "blue-eyed grass" which is in the iris family, no doubt others).
He did have it in a narrower space. I'm in Virginia Beach. We all have a serious vole problem in this area. They ate the Liriope long ago. They have not touched his dwarf Mondo.
Do you have any specific thoughts. This is part of a drainage solution. Gutters already drain at least 10' away from house, under the deck. Am regrading this area so that all water flows into French drain under front edge of deck which then moves to the side and down the lot into a lake.
So the plant is for the "down the lot" area, and you want a plant which likes wet soil? Before I get to that, there's the issue of preventing the water flow from washing out that whole area (especially while the plants get established). Don't know if that's going to be a big issue for your setup, but if it is there is the bio-log (coconut fiber wrapped in rope). You put them cross-wise to the slope, and they should give the plants plenty of time to establish.
I'm sort of assuming you want something low to the ground like the Mondo you mention. If something taller (cattails, New York ironweed, etc) would be appealing, you have lots more choices. Or even short-ish but non-grass-like plants.
The Blue-Eyed Grass I mentioned is Sisyrinchium angustifolium (the web site below says dry to moist soils, and sun to part shade). There's also a taller Sisyrinchium atlanticum which is moist to wet soils and full sun.
As for grasses and sedges, I don't know those very well (yet), but a few short ones are: Carex pensylvanica (part to full shade, dry to moist) Carex glaucodea, blue wood sedge (part to full shade, dry to moist)
I'm browsing these at
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so if you go there you'll know almost as much as I do.
As for where to buy native plants in Virginia, a couple worth mentioning are
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(DC area) and
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(a bit closer to you, although not really). Some of these plants might be in some of the more conventional garden centers too, but I don't know Virginia Beach that way. Many will ship by mail.
I'm not sure if this helps. I don't know what your voles would eat (and trial and error might be needed on that one).
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