In last week’s Happy Gardener blog we talked about keeping your color and leaves through fall and winter by choosing evergreen shrubs. This week we will explore another way of keeping some color in your landscape. Here in San Antonio, we not only lose our spring and summer color when our deciduous trees and shrubs drop their leaves during fall and winter, but we also lose the green in our turf when our grass goes dormant. This isn’t necessarily a horrible thing, for if you have been following a fertilizing plan, and have taken the steps to winterize your lawn, you’ll be seeing your yard green up again in spring before you know it. But for those of you who may be wanting to tweak your landscape a bit, would like to cut back on your mowing maintenance, or you just have a spot where the grass won’t grow no matter how often you drop to your knees and plead with it; you might want to think about replacing some of that turf with evergreen groundcovers.
 (Dwarf Myoporum)
These low-growing plants are the perfect solution for places in your landscape that receive a different amount of light than your turf, like underneath a shade tree. Or perhaps you have a slope in your yard, that the turf just won’t adhere to. Maybe you just don’t want to keep up with the size of your lawn and are looking to swap out a portion of it. Whatever your reasoning, groundcovers can give you an interesting and low-maintenance substitution for turf. We’ll be focusing on some of our favorite evergreen groundcovers for the purpose of this blog, but there are plenty of others to choose from. Fall is a great time to come in, take a look, and get to planting.
Asiatic Jasmine (Trachelospermum asiaticum)
Asiatic Jasmine is probably the most widely used groundcover in Texas. It is one of our evergreens that is very hardy, drought tolerant, and deer resistant. You can replace large areas of thirsty turf grass with this groundcover. The dark green leaves on long shooting tendrils form a thick, dense mat with a height of 6-8 inches. Asiatic Jasmine does take a while to get established, but once it is, it will choke out weeds, other grasses, and be maintenance free. This one is well worth the wait. Plant in sun, a.m. sun-p.m. shade, or filtered sun. If you find it getting sparse and thin it could be receiving too much shade. You can find this favorite groundcover in other exciting variations such as: “salsa” with green,pinkish-bronze, and white leaves, or “variegated” with green and white leaves.
English Ivy (Hedera helix)
English Ivy is one of the most widely grown shade loving groundcovers. It comes in the form of a vining plant with beautiful distinctive shaped leaves. The plant with it’s dark green foliage will grow to heights of 4-6 inches when used as a groundcover. It can also be trained up trellises or fences. You’ll want to make sure it is protected from the hot afternoon sun. Once it is established, it is another evergreen groundcover that needs virtually no care. You can also find many types of English Ivy, such as in a variegated form, or with a hint of yellow like “golden child”. English Ivy is also deer resistant.
Liriope (Liriope musari)
Liriope is a favorite deer-resistant, evergreen groundcover that grows in a clumping form. Dark, green, grass-like leaves form dense clumps with spikes of tiny purple flowers that bloom mid-summer. The plant maintains dark-purple berries throughout wintertime. Liriope do best planted in a.m. sun/p.m. shade, or shade. Take care not to let it receive reflected heat from sidewalks, and driveways, or you will find yourself fighting off leaf-tip burn. There are many variations you can choose from like: Aztec, Big Blue, Giant, and variegated. Sometimes in the winter the larger varieties will lay down in the cool weather, kind of like a cat has sat on them, but they will pop back up when it warms again.
Monkey Grass and Dwarf Monkey Grass (Ophiopogon japonicus)
Monkey Grasses are very popular evergreen groundcover choices for your shady, or filtered light areas. The standard monkey grasses reach heights of 9-12 inches, while the dwarf versions only top at 3-4 inches. They have dark, green, grass-like leaves and a mounding growth habit. The dwarf variety make a great understudy to taller plant like nandinas and pittosporums. You could easily make a tidy edging to a pathway lined with trees. Or you might choose to mass plant an area with little to no foot traffic for an alternative to turf grass struggling in the shade. All monkey grasses are deer-resistant.
Whichever evergreen groundcover you choose, you are sure to be pleased with their low-maintenance and their ability to transform your landscape into a lush, green habitat. Now is the perfect time to come in and choose one to try out.
The Happy Gardener
Lisa Mulroy
