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Thanks. I kind of thought that's what it was. I use the dichondra silver falls in a lot of hanging baskets. I'll have to give it a try between my pavers too.
I'm now also on the look-out for some big chunky table legs like that too... I have the perfect spot for them. Great job.
greyma, I was wondering about that too. I'm betting it won't. I think it's a fast grower though and would probably fill in quickly. I may just have to give it a try in an area and see how it performs. I really like the look.
kayjones-
just like one man's trash is another mans treasure, one man's weed, is another mans favorite groundcover!
:0)
California has more dichondra lawns than grass... it is evergreen, no mowing, and tough as nails and xeriscape...not to mention pretty in mass...what more could you ask for??
-T
Not to steal the thunder from your thread, T, but does this groundcover choke out other plants - will it hurt to let it grow in the flower beds? It is so hard to pull out - it is segmented and breaks off, leaving the roots.
KJ-no problem. I don't mind. I like the dichondra better than the candlesticks, too, lol..so don't mind talking about it. :0)
you are right about pulling on it...not effective. I have wanted to transplant patches before, and found out the same thing. Now I just use a little trowel or something, and pop the entire section out of the ground.
I don't think it would choke things out, in the way that ivy might crawl up and onto other things, or grow so densely that it would choke things out, but it will tangle with other grouncovers. I've tried to pull up grass, and let the dichondra win, but usually the grass ends up pulling the dichondra with it, since they've both grown around each other.
If you want a llittle groundcover in a flower bed, I'd suggest something else, like those little veronicas('georgia blue', or the even smaller 'new century') that are both prostrate, and bloom.
Stepables.com is a great resource for grouncover alternatives, but dichondra (l think) looks best all on its own...in mass. For example, the entire lawns of it, or between pavers, or even just seeding it under a tree in the patch where nothing else will grow, but haven't really seen it used, and liked in flower beds.
So, to answer your question, I'd remove it from your flower beds. If you want to try it somewhere, maybe transplant the patches you remove.
Here is a picture of some kenilworth ivy(cymbalaria). It is a cute little groundcover, but it WILL start to climb up onto things...
here is a shot of some of our dichondra lawn as compared to the neighbor's winter rye...he had to seed it to get this color in winter,and had to mow every week, but the dichondra was nice and green, too, and now mowing.
We have half an acre...it used to take us two hours every week, to edge and mow. That is 104 hours a year saved!
We think we may have added weeks, if not years to our life! :0)
...not to mention saved money on gasoline, lawnmower upkeep, and all those emitions and noise pollution
I saw a picture in this thread that showed something similar to what I have.
Is this Kenilworth Ivy? I've been trying to get rid of it forever. It invades everywhere. It has little blue flowers and when you pick a leaf it has a spearmint smell. How do I get rid of it?
p.s. I'm new here and love this site. But, boy, the last thing I need is more ideas! Keep 'em coming!
Thanks. You're right. I just checked and it looks like I'll have to just keep fighting it. There doesn't seem to be much I can do organically, and I try very hard not to use other means. I did find it hard to believe anyone could like this.
dahtzu-ok maybe for once in my life I'm seeing these as trash, and don't have the future vision of treasure in mind, or I just have creators block, lol... :0)
What would you do with them?
I guess if I made them into candle holders, I'd keep the square base, but use a saw to cut the top ones off...too bulky on top, maybe...
I would cut the tops off too. Maybe you could cut them to all different heights. Cutting another section off of each one making them shorter and shorter. Would make a cool set. It would actually give you more that way. Paint 'em up and maybe even distress them. I don't see them as trash at all.
JuneyBug Dongducheon CpCasey South Korea (Zone 4b)
Dear seedpicker_TX...I wish I had those spindles. I saw on DG a while back where they were used for garden art. They were stuck in the ground and topped with old telephone pole glass insulaters or leftover odd drinking glasses. Still looking for my "free garden spindles."
Be creative girl,...Best wishes,
Sylvia Kinnee
Sylvia-
I'd sure give them to you, but they'd cost a lot to ship, so there goes the free part, lol...
they are still in the garage collecting dust and waiting for inspiration :0)
Oh- I think garden art is the way to go! Pick some super bright colors to go with your garden and paint em up. then put something on top? Like bowls with polka dots (coordinating colors of course) for mushrooms, or shiny globes... What about a plaque with house numbers, or garden sayings. I love that they are all diff legths.
Good luck!
Oooh, if they are different lengths, I can envision them painted bright colors with a different size/shape birdhouse screwed or nailed to the top of each one and "planted" around the garden!
I love your idea regarding replacing the lawn with dichondra. Here in Florida, we are getting dryer and dryer weather conditions, with water restrictions, making it very hard to keep a nice lawn. The Dichondra looks like a wonderful alternative. How does one go about replacing the lawn with it? Do I buy seeds? Do I buy plants and dig up the grass? How did you manage to cover a whole half an acre with it? Would love some tips. Thank you Seedpicker :-)
AuntBusy-
You would have a hard time finding dichondra sod anywhere but California, but for the rest of us, there is a great site online that sells seeds :0)
On the patch that I showed in that photo of my strip of yard compared to the neighbors, I used a sod cutter to remove the grass. Other smaller sections were just over seeded after I killed the grass by withholding all water in summer.(yes it looked bad while letting the grass die, but it was the back, so no one saw it, but us)
I probably never would have considered going to the trouble of replacing my grass with anything other than more grass, lol...were it not for the three year drought we had. After three years of drought and restrictions that got as severe as only being allowed to water once a week in a very narrow window of between 7-9am on that one day, it got to be time to make new considerations!
Dichondra has made me very happy!! And, I love that it will grow in sun, or shade. The more sun it gets, the more water it will need, but it still doesn't require anywhere near as much as grass. It is actually a native here, so does very well.
Most people that see it, recognize it as "dollarweed",and to them it is a weed. But, I always love pointing out that in mass, it is a gorgoeus "weed". And what better survivor than to plant "weeds"???, lol...
Once it is established, dichondra in part sun will grow happily with little to no supplemental watering. We do not have a sprinkler system, and it does fine on just natural rainwater.
The only dichodra that I really have to drag the hose out for, are some of the sections in full blazing Texas sun, or the sections of newly seeded, or newly transplanted sections.
I'd recommend it in a heartbeat. We first tried it between pavers, to see how well it did, and see if we liked it. We loved it!
After observing it for a year, and seeing that it was evergreen and no maintenance, we jumped in with both feet, and that is when the sod cutter got to chugging on my grass, lol...
Be careful to watch the forecast, though!! We had a number of times that we spend a bundle on seed that all got washed away from a strong thunderstorm...plant seeds in dry, mild weather :0)
Thank you so much Seedpicker, for all the links and great information.
Right now we are exploring different options for our lawn, besides lack of rain and water restrictions, hubby is also sick and tired of mowing :-). So far, we are in the process of paving three fourths of the backyard, installing raised beds for veggies, and same level beds for some fruit trees. Next, we will be doing something with the front, and side lawn, possibly a series of native plants or and groundcovers :-).
Again, a big thank you, for taking the time and giving me all this great information.
you are very welcome. I didn't mention before, but my husband had to have knee surgery, and that played a big part in the decision, too.
We LOVE not having to mow in this heat!!
Sounds like you will only have small patches left, when you are done with all your landscaping, so it won't require much seed. That site has other ground cover recommendations, if you decide you want something different.
I think white clover is one, but you might even look into blue star creeper. It is a nice little ground cover that stays very short, and blooms beautiful tiny pale blue flowers. If you go to stepables.com they list it as their number one seller.
In the process of going xeriscape, without trying to look like a cactus garden, I also removed all the grass in my curbside spot(the area between the sidewalk and curb/street). It was just too much work to keep it watered.
I planted it with tough perennials, like roses and daylilies, and it has done very well! People told me I was nuts, but I argued that plants with 12 inch roots had a much better chance of living than grass with roots that only reach one inch!! One inch of soil in 100+ degree weather will dry out in a matter of hours. And when you only got to water once a week, there was no way to keep grass alive, anyway.
All this to say that I planted blue star creeper in that area, and it did take some water to get going, but once established, I've been quite pleased at how drought resistant it has been.
In that curbside shot, the foliage and boulders hide the star creeper, so here is a shot from the other side.
This was taken when it was still mazus reptans(couldn't locate my blue star creeper photo), but it has since been replaced with blue star creeper.
I'll post the blue star pic, if I can locate it...I have four years of photos stored on my pc, so it is a lot to sort through, lol...
I loved the mazus, but it just took too much water. I now still have some in the back garden, but it is near the birdbath, so less trouble to keep it watered there.
-T
Seedpicker, you really do have a green thumb! Your curbside looks beauuuuuuutiful!!!! If my yard ends up half way as nice as yours, I would be totally happy! What kind roses are those? Everything looks very low growing and lush! Beautiful, beautiful job!!! I am a beginner gardener, and don't know very much, but learning a little more each day :-)
AuntB-
thanks! Those roses are coral carpet. But, I tried a rose this year, that I love even more. It is Peach Drift. Similar colors, but it has both pink and peach, and it blooms NON-stop. The coral carpet is supposed to be non-stop, also, but I am just so completely impressed with the Peach Drift.
We've been counting, and it has only been without a bloom two days since I bought it in May.
Those two days were July 9, & 10, and then it was back in bloom! And, it is currently in bloom. What a rose!
It only gets 2 ft, also, so I'd definitely recommend it over the coral carpet, or the oso easy roses.
Also, the pink buttercups really made that area fill in, and they are responsible for a lot of the blooms :0)
Dirt road-
Nope. I've never had to mow it, or trim it. We've had it for four years, now. In fact, if you mow it, you can stress it by cutting all the leaves off.
In fall when all the leaves fall, you cannot rake the dichondra, or it will snag and rip it. That is the only time we use a mower, but we set it up higher than the foliage, and only run it over the dichondra to suck up and mulch the leaves...
-T
We have a blower, and that will definitely be better than a rake, but the mower is still best. It is faster, and plus with the bag on, it both picks up the leaves and mulches them at the same time, while also bagging it for you :0)
I don't know of a simpler, faster way than that :0)
Seedpicker, thanks again for taking all this time and giving me all these great suggestions. Do you have an online source for these plants or do you just buy them locally? The roses sound great, and so do the buttercups, will have to see if I can find a retailer for them, here if Florida.
lol.. can do.. mow and bag it.. :-) So as Aunt Busy asked, where do you purchase them? What about sandy soil? sorry didnt mean to Hijack your table leg thread.. ..
It is roughly about a teaspoon, or two, of teensy-tiny seeds. I scattered them by adding them to a little fine sand and then used a salt shaker to scatter them evenly, lol
As for the soil, ours is clay-based, but that bed was amended with sandy loam, to improve drainage. It is probably more sandy loam than the original soil.
Just one word of caution on the buttercups(aka evening primrose)...it can spread and some call it downright invasive. I took that into consideration, and felt that surrounded by four sides of concrete, where could it really go?, lol...
But, I would not suggest it in a more formal bed, although the unwanted seedlings can be really easy to prick out in Spring. But, if you wait until summer to pull them, they'll break off and will actually have to be dug out. And, they do reseed like mad, if you don't deadhead after blooming.
This is a plus for me in that bed, because I know I'll always have one of my favorite wildflowers, but not a plus, for someone that changes their mind about having them, lol...
Seedpicker,
just wanted to say thank you again for all the great information you posted. Your nickname fits you perfectly, you have chosen some great seeds :-).
Happy gardening :-) and take care.
Hi! Newbie here. I was thrilled to read this thread! Hubby and I just landscaped the larger half of our front yard about a month ago. We planted dichondra in the "grass" area. If we like it, we're doing the other half of the yard the same way. We're getting a nice green haze of plants coming up now...I can hardly wait for it to fill in! I live in Washington state, and I've never seen a Dichondra lawn...but I did a lot of research before making my decision. I'm happy to hear so many people have been happy with their Dichondra!
Hubby and I are thrilled at the idea of NO MOWING and the fact that once it's established, we won't have to water all the time to keep it green! It makes me feel good hearing of the success others have had with Dichondra.
As for the spindles. How about drilling a hole in the bottom, gluing a dowel into the bottom and then poke the dowel into the ground. The dowel would allow you to stick it deep enough in the ground so it won't fall over, and it could be used to keep your hose out of your flowers. You could paint them and could add a wood ball or a mini bird house or some sort of decorative item to the top of them.
seedpicker...I bought my dichondra seed from Park Seed online. They even transferred my call to one of their Horticulturists who was very willing to answer all my questions. I was going back and forth between a thyme and dichondra, and it was the Park Seed Horticulturist who convinced me to go with the dichondra.
It's just coming up now...green little sprouts spread pretty evenly across the whole area. Give me a few weeks and I'll post before and after pics!
