New Ground Cover in Full Sun to Replace Weeds, Crown Vetch
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Spencer White
Posted on: February 02, 2005

I am a long time Richters customer, and have a question about ground cover.

There is an area (225 sq.ft.) that has been covered with crown vetch and weeds that I sprayed last fall and will spray again in the spring. I would like to start a new ground cover in this full sun area, and am not sure what to plant. The three I have interest in are: Creeping Lemon Thyme; Lemon Carpet Thyme; Creeping Thyme.

Something fast growing with decent resistance to walking in it is preferable; I’d have to get into it to pull weeds, etc. Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

An important aspect of any plant you choose would have to be its winter hardiness. Since you plan to walk on the area planted with this, snow cover would become spotty and as a result you should choose plants that are solidly hardy in your climatic zone. Toronto, Ontario, Canada goes from Zone 6 at the lakeshore to Zone 4 in the northern suburbs. The hardiest thymes we have are hardy to zone 4 and one purple carpet lemon thyme is hardy to zone 2. The lemon carpet thyme you suggested is hardy to zone 6. I would suggest that you use the above or orange spice thyme instead. If your climatic zone is less than 4 the purple carpet lemon thyme is your only choice for a creeping thyme.

For more suggestions of useful herbs for your replanting scheme go to our web-site www.richters.com under the "Q&A" heading in the "News & Info" section of the site. Click on "Search Question & Answers" and type in"ground cover", to find the topics that sound as if they would answer your question. Seeding rates for selected herbs can be found in the Commercial section under Pro-Growers Info.

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