Looking to buy groundcover for hillsides

[browneyebuttafly]

Hello, I'm new to this site, although I'm a regular at BYC lol. I've been doing some research on groundcover for my hillsides. I have ALOT of hillsides thats hard to keep cut. I'm looking for different things I can plant on them so I won't have to cut the grass anymore. I've come up with periwinkle & hostas lol? What else can I get and should I buy seeds considering theres so much hills? It's alot cheaper isn't it? I want something that I don't have to mess with and grows/spreads FAST! Let me know if anybody has anything that could help me & how much it would cost.

Thanks! Jamie

 

[wifezilla]

I use clover, but my yard is pretty flat.

 

[NwMtGardener]

Hi, welcome browneyebuttafly! Well, i know this is a sacrilegious suggestion some places (cause laws say you have to keep everything mowed, or some silly thing like that)but what if you just *didn't* mow? What's actually growing on your hillsides right now, nice grass or a buncha ugly useless weeds (as opposed to good weeds!) ?? If its nice grass, i think i just wouldnt mow, because i think grass fields look nice, and provide better wildlife habitat. And where are you located?? Maybe you could do ivy, or those creeping junipers (altho they're not my favorite, they smell like cat pee, yuck!!) or a wildflower meadow. The flowers in that would depend on your zone, climate, amount of sun on the hillsides. For my area, montana, i would do things like blanketflower, any coneflowers, lupine, and those you could do from seed, just interspersed with the grass.

 

[thistlebloom]

If this were my property I would go with a variety of meadow/prairie grass. It wouldn't need mowing, maybe a weedwhack in the fall to keep it neat. It could be drought tolerant depending on the species you chose. And it would look nice.
You didn't say where you are located and if the sites are full sun or shade, that would make a difference in what to choose.
Grass seed would be infinitely less expensive than ground cover or perennials like hosta.
You might like to read about Buffalo grass, it will grow to about 4" and doesn't need mowing, plus it's very drought tolerant.

Here's a site that might interest you:

http://www.stockseed.com/buffalograsses_default.asp

 

[momofdrew]

I have to go along with t he others why mow??? unless there is a law saying you have too...

Wild flowers for your area may be a good Idea they take a few years from seed to really get going and they do need some mowing at the end of summer...

 

[browneyebuttafly]

Im in western PA and no I don't HAVE to mow but it looks terrible. Theres all kinds of stuff growing there & its not nice at all! This is the way my house was built...My house is on a hill and all around 2 sides of my house is a hill...then at the bottom of those hills is an area of flat ground, then another hill all around that...then at the bottom of that hill is a very large flat area. Confusing I know, I'll have to take pics. Could I just buy ALOT of different seeds that will be good for the hills, mix them all up then sprinkle them all over my hills lol? Theres just so much area, it would take forever lol...I don't know what to do?

Oh and the hills are full sun...maybe a little shady when the sun first comes up.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

sounds like it is terraced around your home. what about day lilies? with hosta you need to be sure of sun tolerance on a lot of the varieties since some won't do well with it.

 

[seedcorn]

there may be laws making you mow to keep noxious weeds from going to seed.

So how tall can the ground cover get to keep you happy. Starting things from seed is cheaper but not the easiest because you have the cost of the seed, preparation of the ground, keep the weeds down, get the correct seeds to germinate, then get them to live.

 

[897tgigvib]

Virginia Creeper is very beautiful and is a rampant and easy to grow groundcover.

If you buy just 3 plants and bury the stems like you would Strawberry stems to make new plants, Virginia Creeper will give you 6 or 7 new plants from each of the original 3 in a year. Do the stem burying in August. By next April they will be rooted plants. That means in a year you'll have more than 20 plants. If you do the same thing with all of them again, you'll have a whole hillside of Virginia Creeper.

I hear tell some Raspberries spread about as well, plus you get Raspberries each year. Thornless Blackberries might be better.

Heck, If I were in your shoes, I'd plant every kind of Raspberry I could find.

Another good one might be strawberries if you can work some beds for them!

Sounds like you have plenty of good gardening land! Use it, please.