Our neighbor has a row of large evergreen trees along the lot line with foliage extending at least 10 feet over our yard. They recently decided to limb them up a few feet, exposing bare soil on our side of the property line. What kind of grass should I sow? The area is shady almost all day. If grass will not grow, what ground cover would grow there?
— Alan Gerhardt, Lincolnshire
The entire area under the spruce trees will probably be too shady to grow grass, even if you use a shade blend of grass seed. You can expect to overseed very shady lawn areas once a year. I’m guessing the bare area under the trees on your property is large; you might be able to reduce the size of the bare area by seeding grass along the front edge of the bed, where it will get more sun. Then I’d plant a ground cover that will tolerate dry shade to fill the rest of the area.
Virginia creeper is a native vine that would work to cover the ground under the spruce trees. This plant will stay low, but you’ll need to keep it off the trunks of the spruce and cut back as it spreads from the bed out into the lawn. If the area is large, the long-term maintenance needed to keep this vine in check once it’s established might become an issue; I have some Virginia creeper in my garden that keeps growing up my yews, so I’ve been working to eradicate it. That said, it’s an inexpensive solution to cover a large area. Plant the vines on 2- to 5-foot centers depending on how quickly you want to cover the bed. Just avoid tilling the area in preparation for the new ground cover to minimize damaging the roots of the spruce trees.
If you’re willing to provide supplemental water to this area, you could consider using a moisture-loving ground cover like pachysandra. There are also many hostas with different heights and foliage colors that would work well under the spruce trees. Deer will browse hosta, so that’s a consideration. Personally, I’ve had success with Canadian ginger as a ground cover in dry shade in my home garden.
For more plant advice, contact the Plant Information Service at the Chicago Botanic Garden at [email protected]. Tim Johnson is senior director of horticulture at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
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