Shade trees are highly desirable landscape features in Texas. They protect against the summer sun’s ravages and offer relief to owners and air-conditioning bills. However the same welcome shade also removes the required growing conditions for common landscape grasses like Bermuda and St Augustine. Adding green or colored ground covers to areas around shade trees is a solution that enhances the look of the landscape.
Groundcovers for Texas Landscapes
There are many wonderful ground covers for Texas. So landscapes are not limited to the popular Asian Jasmine. Many ground covers offer contrasting colors including light green-grey, and shades of purple, yellow, and red. Before selecting a ground cover, check the hardiness zone for the area and compare that with the plant’s tolerance.
Ground covers are plants that grow horizontally including vines, lower-growing shrubs, and perennial grasses like Mondo grass and Liriope. Ground covered areas may include one or multiple ground cover plants to present an attractive look and contrast with surrounding grass. Here are some ground-covering plants to consider for a Texas landscape:
- Ajuga – green leaves, spring flowers in blue to purple shades. Other varieties include Bronze Ajuga with both green and tinted leaves and Burgundy Ajuga with leaves that are dark red to purple. This plant grows 4-6 inches tall. It spreads quickly and may be prone to soil-borne diseases.
- Purple Wintercreeper Euonymus is a popular ground cover for Texas landscapes. It is more freeze tolerant than some and grows 8-16 inches tall. The leaves are waxy green and grow densely to cover an area.
- Trailing Juniper is a lovely contrasting ground cover with blue-green foliage. Plants require wide spacing and good soil drainage. The plants are generally healthy, but can be harmed by spidermites.
- Liriope is a clumping grass with purple or lilac flowers in late summer. It clumps densely, but does not spread. Newer varieties have variegated leaves that add contrast and depth to landscapes. Liriope are healthy perennials that present few maintenance problems.
- Mondograss is another clumping grass. It tolerates many light conditions from sun to shade. It should be protected from the full afternoon sun, though. Mondograss requires little care and grows from 6-12 inches. White flowers accent, but are not showy.
- Asian Jasmine is hardy almost to the point of being invasive. Although it can grow to 12 inches high, it is usually clipped to about six inches. Landscapers may find the variegated or new multi-colored Salsa, to be more visually pleasing than the solid green of traditional Asian Jasmine. However, some Texas gardeners report that this colorful variety did not do well in the summer heat.
Here are some more options for grounds covers that work well in Texas landscapes. “What to Plant in Shade Gardens: Ground Cover and Plants that Thrive in the Shade” and “Top 10 Groundcovers” from the Houston Chron.
Planting and Caring for Groundcovers
Figuring out how many plants you need for ground cover is a math problem—but a simple one. Multiple the length by the width of the area to be covered (the square footage) and divide that number by the plant’s growth. Round up for curves in the ground cover area.
Grounds covers may be planted at any time of the year, although spring is usually considered the best time to plant. Spring is also the time when nurseries have the best plant selection. Remove all weeds before planting ground covers and dig the soil down to about 4 inches. Add compost and mix with soil.
In the first year, adding mulch around the plants will maintain soil moisture until the plant has covered its assigned area. Prune or clip as needed; often February is a good time for this chore. Fertilize that same a lawn fertilizing requirements and water during dry conditions.
Ground covers are attractive features of home landscapes. They solve problems of bare spots and erosion and are not too much trouble to maintain.
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