lawns and other ground covers

[Lily left the valley]

I realized after writing a response in a thread about apple trees that we were teetering towards offtopicland. So my response is here instead.

I've been trying to get clover growing rather than grass. . It's taking but this year I opted to not cut it and just let it try to fill in because last year I mowed my clover and it got very sad.

How high was your mower set? Are you only seeding clover, or is it a mix? If you're only seeding one type of clover, you'll have a monoculture lawn which will be more susceptible to pests and stress. Even Farmer's Almanac says mixing the clover with a low grass is a good idea if it's foot traffic area, but I can't speak from experience to that.

Speaking of mixes, did you look into Roman chamomile at all? It's a lower growing perennial chamomile and has little flowers. It's something in my list of possibles to mix into our clover we've been encouraging to spread. It's sometimes also called Russian chamomile or English. The German chamomile (reseeding annual) grows much higher with bigger flowers. Our front lawn faces north, and gets at least partial day shade depending from the house. That works well for chamomile. It grows in full sun, but it has an easier time in partial. It's also drought tolerant.

How heavy in clay is your soil mix? I've seen it recommended to mix clover seed with sand to help it along for clay heavy soils. How sunny is the lawn portion? If parts are heavily shaded, you could also start encouraging mosses in those bits. There's even some sun friendly mosses, though I don't know how they'd do in your zone.

If you're not walking on most of the lawn, you could also plant creeping thyme as general ground cover with clover as the "path" portion. I read that doing an entire lawn with creeping can get pricey, but they were talking about using plugs, not seeds, so you know. There are quite a few different kinds of creeping to choose from. The creeping will get woody over time, hence the suggestion to use the clover as the path.

[Manalto]

Ajuga might work for you.

[phil]

I’ve got a couple types of groundcover plants going not sure what they are called I’ll try to get some pictures
For now my lawn is a mess I just watered enough so it didn’t die and yanked big weeds I might have some catch up to do but I’ve been immersed in roofing it turned into a big project for just me so it might be just half a roof this year and half next year but at least I kept the costs down as much as possible. I’ll update my flashings thread

[Lily left the valley]

I’ve got a couple types of groundcover plants going not sure what they are called I’ll try to get some pictures For now my lawn is a mess I just watered enough so it didn’t die and yanked big weeds I might have some catch up to do but I’ve been immersed in roofing it turned into a big project for just me so it might be just half a roof this year and half next year but at least I kept the costs down as much as possible. I’ll update my flashings thread

I totally understand about priorities.

Oh, and even our front yard has been mostly out of hand this year do to all the long spurts of rain. Right on the tail of finally not having snow, we got tons of rain in spring. Then it transitioned to where we'd get a nice night shower here and there, then five days of rain of various types. Rinse, repeat. Thankfully the town is totally cool with foot high grass and wildflowers here though I've been slowly getting rid of the typical lawn grass in favor of meadow-y stuff to blend with our rain garden plan out front. Only walkways need to be clear of obstructions which is easy to do since we have so little of those. I also saw an add for free wood from someone clearing, and we may pick up some of what other folks don't want for firewood to make a walkway out back with thick cut rounds. That reminds me, I gotta check to see if that ad is still up

Manalto's always better at the ID game than me, but I'd still love to see what you have and pipe in what I can manage.

[phil]

I have to remember to take ground cover pics. Ive got a couple of things going that are filling in quite well. one variety has lovely yellow flowers and produces puffy cloud like seeds. they grow a bit tall but they don't seem to mind drought or rain and while my neighbors seem to be discouraging them they seem to do really well in my yard
will the Ajuga grow well here in Vancouver? I love the purple color.
no I dont; walk on my front lawn. I get so much traffic out front I can't hear the lawnmower properly never mind talk to anyone and my house is situated close to the street, which is a blessing as I have a larger back yard as a result.

its a very vibrant neighborhood with ambulances , fire trucks busses and guys on harleys that cant' afford mufflers. right now it is decorated with my new back steps, not yet installed, my wheelbarrow with two flat tires, three cars, a couple of boats, a van, a car tent, trailer and various roofing materials. the sides of my house are decorated with lovely aluminum ladders with lots of ropes tied to places well out of reach. half of the roof is half shingled and the rest has paper with a lot of BASF advertising
the weekend calls for rain, the lovely yellow flowers will love it but I'm getting kind of eager to finish shingling my half-a-roof project. I somehow think the neighbors understand. they see me dangling in my harness like a scared kitten too high in a tree and I guess it at least proves I'm trying to get a handle on things. Kitty is ok with it all every night she jumps out the bedroom window and does a roof inspection. at first the crows chased her in but she's a fearless roof walker. at first I was worried she'd realize she could climb down the ladder or jump onto the porch railing but she didn't. I often call her in for food and Im trying to brainwash her that coming in is always a good thing even if she really doesn't need 6 meals a day. at night she isnt' allowed out except for on her roof, and the racoons come and leave presents along the side of my house. funny she doesn't seem to tangle with them and they don't seem to bother with her.

I had the neighbor across the street talking to me while on the roof. I couldn't hear a thing he was saying but as we were doing sign language I picked up my air nailer by the hose. I accidentally grabbed it by the collar thing on the hose and we both watched as it bounced down from the peak, coming to rest on one of my walking boards down by the gutters. I got a two thumbs up for the performance and I felt lucky to still have a nail gun that works.

[Manalto]

...one variety has lovely yellow flowers and produces puffy cloud like seeds. they grow a bit tall but they don't seem to mind drought or rain and while my neighbors seem to be discouraging them they seem to do really well in my yard

It's hard to say without a photo but it sounds like you may have Taraxacum officinale, a perennial wildflower originally from Europe but now naturalized throughout the northern hemisphere. All parts of the plant are edible. Because of the shape of the leaves, the French call it lion's tooth, dent-de-lion.

...will the Ajuga grow well here in Vancouver?

It did well in Bellingham, Washington, so I don't see why not.

[Gothichome]

...one variety has lovely yellow flowers and produces puffy cloud like seeds. they grow a bit tall but they don't seem to mind drought or rain and while my neighbors seem to be discouraging them they seem to do really well in my yard

It's hard to say without a photo but it sounds like you may have Taraxacum officinale, a perennial wildflower originally from Europe but now naturalized throughout the northern hemisphere. All parts of the plant are edible. Because of the shape of the leaves, the French call it lion's tooth, dent-de-lion.

...will the Ajuga grow well here in Vancouver?

It did well in Bellingham, Washington, so I don't see why not.

We have no problems growing teraxcum officinale in Chatham as well. Not only are they edible (only the finest restaurants serve them of course) but the flowers make great wine, or so I’ve heard.

[Manalto]

The greens are delicious. They must be harvested before the plant blooms or will be too tough and bitter. My grandmother taught me how to cook them. You boil the greens for a few minutes, drain and discard the water. Saute in olive oil with thinly-sliced onion. Salt and pepper.