Native Plants
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Sunday - January 11, 2009
From: Wesley Chapel, FL
Region: Southeast
Topic: Groundcovers
Title: Ground cover for damp areas
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
I am looking for a cover ground plants that tolerate damp areas. Any suggestions?ANSWER:
There are a number of plants that serve as ground covers and like damp soil. You didn't say what height you were interested in, if it was for foot traffic on a lawn, shade or sun, etc. So, we chose two of our favorite groundcovers, several sedges, as most sedges are fond of damp soil, and some grasses. All those listed are native to Florida, and should be commercially available. We will list them in order of height: the first two are pretty low, clinging to the ground; the sedges tend to be about one foot tall and, unfortunately, many of them look a lot like weeds; finally, the grasses are taller, but are attractive and hold their places year-round. Follow the plant links to the webpage on each plant to find out if it does best in shade or sun, its height and the type of soil it likes, then make your selection based on the location where you will be using it. When you have made your choices, if you have difficulty finding the plants you want, go to our Native Plant Suppliers section, type your town and state in the "Enter Search Location" box and you will get a list of native plant nurseries, seed companies and landscape consultants in your general area.
GROUNDCOVERS
Calyptocarpus vialis (straggler daisy)
Phyla nodiflora (turkey tangle fogfruit)
SEDGES
Andropogon virginicus (broomsedge bluestem)
Carex albolutescens (greenwhite sedge) - pictures
Carex blanda (eastern woodland sedge)
Carex cherokeensis (Cherokee sedge)
Carex crus-corvi (ravenfoot sedge)
Carex glaucescens (southern waxy sedge)
Carex stipata (owlfruit sedge)
GRASSES
Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama)
Chasmanthium latifolium (Inland sea oats)
Eragrostis spectabilis (purple lovegrass)
Muhlenbergia schreberi (nimblewill)
Paspalum floridanum (Florida paspalum)
Poa arachnifera (Texas bluegrass)
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August 09, 2012 - What's a good low maintenance, shade tolerant ground cover for the Pacific Northwest? It needs to have good erosion control, too.
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April 20, 2013 - Our driveway is 1/4 mile in length and is steep on both sides (one side up one side down). It currently has grass that our contractor planted using seed when we built our house. We are unable to cut t...
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Groundcover for Boston MA
March 12, 2013 - We have a small back yard that gets great sun in spring before the leaves are fully back on the tall trees surrounding the perimeter, and then a lot of shade in summer. We have weird patchy grass and ...
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Ground cover for roadside in Elk Rapids MI
July 13, 2010 - Elk Rapids, MI (Lake Michigan, East Grand Traverse Bay)
Greetings –
We are looking for a native ground cover that will cover an area along a roadside, about 100 feet from the Lake Michigan shorelin...
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Native, full-sun, 4-in. evergreen grasses for Leander TX
November 07, 2011 - Help! I need a native Texas evergreen sedge/grass/ground cover for full-sun/hot/dry area between sidewalk and street. The plants will need to be kept about 4" high, if growth is higher it must be mow...
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