Ground Cover/Slope/Ivy

[itchyneebanshee]

Hi,

I'm trying to get some ground cover on a sunny slope, which usually gets swallowed by tall grasses in the Spring and Summer. I put out a bunch of Emerald Gaiety and most of them died after a year, even though they had decent water. They were going great and then just vanished.

English Ivy grows thick about 30ft away in a slightly shady area, so I'm going to put in new Ivy plants [Fall sale at Lowe's .50 each] and try those. I've already started some cuttings, but that will take a little longer. Some of the Lowes plants are Baltic, some of them are Golden Child. GP says it tolerates full sun, but doesn't spread as far as Baltic. Weeds are a huge problem on this hill, so I'm putting little square cardboard frames around each plant. During Spring, even with spraying Over the Top, coupled with the size of the slope, manual weeding becomes a big challenge. These are small plants, with a fist sized rootball.

The hole in the cardboard is about 4x6 inches, with

4" of edge on the sides, and 2" on the top/bottom edge. Hopefully these plants will grow over the cardboard edge, and then put down feelers/roots and continue.

I'm' also planning to place larger pieces of cardboard inbetween the plants, using landscape staples, and after the plants grow over their little cardboard collar, I can remove/adjust those pieces. Does this sound like a plan? Asiatic Jasmine is also on the menu.

itchy

[songbird]

one reason to use cardboard for smothering weeds is that it eventually breaks down and turns into worm food.

you will probably find out after a while that the best plan for a slope is to just trim it once in a while with something (to keep brush from shading out the grass). you don't want to remove the grasses because they are preventing erosion.

that is the least amount of work. trim it once in a while and otherwise leave it alone. the grasses are doing what they are supposed to be doing.

if you want to add potted wild flowers to the area to give it some diversity you can do that but you don't want to put in ones that will shade the grass out. poppies, pinks, etc. can do ok.

the decorative grasses i've seen all seem to eventually turn into invasive messes so i don't use those for anything.

songbird

[Frank]

I had no trouble starting ivy on my slopes but it would not take hold. I did not find until later that the deer were eating it in the winter. Pachysandra works well in highly shaded areas for my neighbors but I have trouble getting it started in partial shade.

Periwinkle and day lilies worked fine on one slope even though deer may munch the day lilies but now in partial shade other weeds have moved in.

[itchyneebanshee]

[?]

Yes maintaining the weedeater might be the best bet. I'll try the Ivy this year and see if it takes off. That hill is basically a giant root ball, it's had myrtles and bushes and pine trees on it for years. I would have left the bushes/myrtles but a few years ago a landscaper came in and while I was not looking, he cut everything. Yay.