Help Ground Cover Suggestions

schoolhouse

I finally have to get around to attempting some landscaping in the garden. Just realised that celebration parties only a couple of years away, the incentive to get things moving,

We have a wide and High (20m x 4m) bank behind the house with lawn (former field) on top. The bank is to steep for the usual rockeries you see so I think a weed membrane is the best option and ground cover plants.

I need some ideas of ground cover plants that
- will spread rapidly
- grow on poor soil
- are not high maintenance (I believe the term is thrives on neglect)

The bank would be fairly exposed to sunlight and the elements.

Any help greatly appreciated.

_Brian

schoolhouse wrote: »

I finally have to get around to attempting some landscaping in the garden. Just realised that celebration parties only a couple of years away, the incentive to get things moving,

We have a wide and High (20m x 4m) bank behind the house with lawn (former field) on top. The bank is to steep for the usual rockeries you see so I think a weed membrane is the best option and ground cover plants.

I need some ideas of ground cover plants that
- will spread rapidly
- grow on poor soil
- are not high maintenance (I believe the term is thrives on neglect)

The bank would be fairly exposed to sunlight and the elements.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Will spread rapidly and grow in poor soil are not two things that really go together..

Vinca Major would be a good spreader if the ground were better..
Perhaps some of the Ivy family would do the trick...

I have a similar bank..
My plan when I get round to it is to dig some planting holes at the base and fill these with decent soil. Plant into that something that will ramble up over the bank from the good planting base..

I've been meaning to ask here would Clematis Montana or such vigerous climber work if I planted it like that... Virginia creeper etc.. I'd be thinking of some support wires to help them get up and along.

looksee

Perrenial Geraniums, osteospermum (Veldt daisies), nasturtiums (annuals but they will keep coming back), persicaria (knotweed, only if you are really serious about ground cover!) sedums and saifrage, mesembrianthemums if you are in a mild area (the purple ones). Remember though that if you put down a weed-proof membrane you will seriously restrict what plants you can put down as most spreaders either root from runners or send out suckers.

schoolhouse

Thanks for the suggestions.
Good point about the weed membrane but how else will I control weeds while the plants establish themselves.
The past couple of years the garden was not the priority so we just sprayed them to keep them under control.
The bank does not lend itself to easy weeding like a normal flower bed would.

_Brian

looksee wrote: »

Perrenial Geraniums, osteospermum (Veldt daisies), nasturtiums (annuals but they will keep coming back), persicaria (knotweed, only if you are really serious about ground cover!) sedums and saifrage, mesembrianthemums if you are in a mild area (the purple ones). Remember though that if you put down a weed-proof membrane you will seriously restrict what plants you can put down as most spreaders either root from runners or send out suckers.

Knotweed ?
Realistically how easily would that be to control once introduced ?

looksee

_Brian wrote: »

Knotweed ?
Realistically how easily would that be to control once introduced ?

I'm talking about Persicaria bisort, not Japanese knotweed. It does go mad and will take over a flowerbed, but it can be controlled - if only by digging it up when there is too much of it!