Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Hello we have 2 areas in front of our house that we have been clearing out underbrush of various thorny shrubs growing under clumps of small oak and hickory trees. We would like to spread a top dressing of soil and plant some type of low, spreading ground cover that will grow and hopefully help slow down the regrowth of the shrubs.

Anyone have any suggestions for short. fast growing, spreading ground cover plants that do well in partial shade?

JimW

Creeping Vinca (periwinkle) my daycare provider has it all over her property under the trees along her driveway.

Bugleweed (Ajuga) attractive ground cover, can be cut with a lawnmower or left grow naturally, although I don't think anything will hold down shrubbery. Does well in partial shade, needs moisture and if it doesn't like where you planted it, will travel :)
Here purplish area in centre of lawn, also comes in pinkish silver.

We have bugleweed as well. Adds nice colour to areas but hasnt grown too well in our shaded areas. We're trying periwinkle in those shaded areas this year.

Was going to recommend vinca too. It will cover everything!

Doing the same thing at our place. Will periwinkle choke out the grasses? We never want to mow this slope again.

I planted a variety of mints in an herb garden once and the chocolate mint ended up taking over everything and became part of the lawn as well. Smelled like a peppermint patty when run over with the lawn mower, and just kept growing back.

Periwinkle is very invasive as are some mints, which is fine if you aren't doing any other gardening, but a real pest once it invades a veg or flower garden.
Ajuga propagates by runners like strawberry plants, so easily controlled.

Thanks for the tips. I think I my give the periwinkle a try, there are not other gardens in the area, so spreading is not a big concern.

Did you want low growing ground cover? If you don't mind a little more height, and if you don't plan on mowing the area, pachysandra works for us in shady areas under trees along the back of our property.