! Concrete with circle openings for the trees?

Saypoint's going to request a photo.

Seriously, it is not a favour to anyone to sustain the fantasy that property does not require maintenance, or that it should not. Even concrete needs to be swept if it is to look clean, and wouldn't that maple do a bit of a job on it?

Property ownership is a responsibility, period. If someone is not prepared to do maintenance and is not prepared to accept the consequences (eg the place looks awful), then they should not own property.

People who do not maintain their own property cannot learn to respect the property of others. We're discovering this lesson anew as our derelict neighbours show continued contempt for our property and the work they create for us. (yes, I'm bitter, and have a chip on my shoulder, and so am no help at all).

KarinL

! Concrete with circle openings for the trees?

Saypoint's going to request a photo.

Going on the assumption that this is a real case, no wonder you are asking for help - what a set of circumstances to work around!!

While I fully support Karin's contention that "no maintenance" doesn't exist, there are an assortment of groundcovers available that will require minimal maintenance once established. The trick is finding ones that will work in those restrictive conditions.......underplanting a red maple is an extremely challenging situation.

Just out of curiosity, why the no mulch, no gravel, no maintenance (ha!) edict? Not a very realistic set of conditions to fulfill, IMHO.

They have part grass part mulch now, Pam, the remnants of another designers attempt. I did the back garden last year with a similar brief but bigger budget and used river stones and giant boulders. So these are the three materials they don't want for the front, grass, mulch and decorative stone (for want of a better word). I think Lamium would take over the area eventually but a sea of dead nettle is not very inspiring and not maintenance free initially.

Given those restrictions, Ink, I'd say "inspiring" would be well down on my list of concerns. I'd be more worried about something even surviving planting under a red maple, given initial care during establishment or not. Lamium works well here for me in dry shade but is as slow as molasses to establish and begin to thrive.

Tell me again what zone you are dealing with?? Maybe I can come up with some other alternatives. Or not :-)

This is Canada zone 5b, if only we had snow cover for all 12 months and not just 6 there would be no problem!

Would tumbled glass count as decorative stone? As for groundcovers are you not down to the choice of Vinca minor?

amili

So I'm thinking Canadian hardiness zones are rated like one below the USDA zones? Canadian 5b = US 6b? That does limit a few of my preferred dry shade solutions:-) What about epimediums? A very classy plant anyway you look at it - handsome foliage (often evergreen here - maybe semi-evergreen for you) with seasonal color changes, quite tolerant of dry shade, unique and very interesting flowers over a long season in spring and a nice colonizer if not a rampant spreader. Not an inexpensive item, though, and might tax your budget without a very dense coverage intitially. I'd also wonder about availability in your area, as they are only just recently becoming more widely known and used. Mix in a few tough ferns for some textural and size contrast and you're good to go. Can't get much lower maintenance than that!

Pardon me for adding my 2 cents worth as a gardener, not a designer...

Lamium spreads pretty quick for me. It's certainly what comes to mind for me in a situation like that. I use Beacon Silver or White Nancy. I don't find it boring at all but I usually plant other things to grow with it. Jack Frost brunnera looks great with it - I thought they'd be too similar to make a good combination but when they accidentally grew together I found that the difference in leaf size provided enough contrast to the similarity in foliage color that the end result was quite attractive - although I suspect it might be too monochrome for some people's taste. The other thing that works well with the silver lamiums in dry shade for me is Eupatorium 'Chocolate'. The silver lamium foliage shows off the purple of the Eupatorium nicely. Both of them grow well in dry shade for me. And then you can plant lots of small spring bulbs under it all - I use small ones - crocuses and such - so the foliage melts away neatly.

In this picture you can see the Jack Frost with White Nancy with the Chocolate Eupatorium just showing on the right edge. The Chocolate is a bit muddy colored in this picture - it's a brighter purple out there right now. The white flowers of the Eupatorium sparkle nicely with the silver carpet under them. These are all growing under a 2' wide roof overhang, not under trees, but it's still dry, shady, tough conditions. There is, of course, a bit of maintenance - deadheading Jack Frost and cutting back the Eupatorium. It's not excessive but necessary to prevent some seeding around.
{{gwi:39799}}

The first thing I thought of was ajuga and the 2nd was european ginger. I do absolutely nothing to either. In a fertile organic soil they spread and reseed very rapidly. I have sweet woodruff that seeded itself under maple trees and grows right up to the trunk - amazingly drought resistant. The third was hellebores - but they will require dead leaves to be cut off once a year. The fourth was the old spotted pulmonaria - tough as nails even in drought ridden clay. Then I thought of green lirope, but again that benefits from a hair cut once a year. If you want to check with them a horticulturist at the Cleveland Botanical Garden has been trialing these dwarf lawn grasses that supposedly don't need to be cut.

I've found epimedium to be very obliging in spreading - but that was in a soil amended with composted manure.

Surely you could use mulch to get it all started?

Is this the usual townhouse/rowhouse situation where one yard bleeds seemlessly into the next? Without establishing barriers, I'd worry about groundcovers encroaching. The budget eliminates hedging which could allow the enclosed square footage to go to dirt. There just isn't much that doesn't require some attention and maintenance on someone's part even if it's just pulling weeds, raking up leaves, or walking around with a bypass pruner. What are the pros and cons of something like kinnikkinnik or hypericum calycinum, the latter being at least water conserving?

No doubt they're staying put, but with the potential height and spread of both the Japanese lilac and the red maple...
If they're twigs now, there will be some situations to overcome later on down the road. But if it were mine and I had no inclination towards maintenance, I'd paver it over into a patio (fine until the maple develops surface roots which will lift everything) - maybe a square foot left bare here and there at random for something edge softening.

Can you post a photo?

There, happy now, Maro??

A mortared brick border to contain the groundcover of choice. Vinca, Pachysandra, Epimediums? How much sun does the area get? If it's not too sunny, the Pachy tends to be just tall enough to swallow small leaves and bits of debris fairly well in a sort of self-mulching way.

Or, brick pavers over the whole thing? Will still require sweeping, occasional weeding, hosing off.

The only thing I can think of for NO maintenance is rubber mulch with an irrigation system that dispenses roundup once a month or so.

I don't get that it's all that shady although it's beneath trees - did you say shady, Ink? Maybe a carpeting junipers. Gold on one side (Motherlode) and blue on the other. Gravel to suppress weeds till they grow in.

Or an organic mulch, renewed annually. Like I say, NO maintenance is fantasy.

KarinL

Pachysandra seems to need little maitenance. I have vinca and I have to trim it back from the sidewalk. My Euorpean Ginger tends to die out in spots. Still going to have to remove leaves in fall ano atter what the ground covr is.

Actually, there is one type of landscape that is no maintenance; the forest floor beneath a large conifer.

There's your solution. Take out the trees that are there; plant a couple of matching conifers, plant a ground cover or mulch them for the first while, and eventually they become self-mulching with a surface in which nothing will grow. Just ask anyone who tries to garden under one!

Actually, willows do this too. Maybe maples too?

KarinL

You could plant things that other people love so much that the property owner could abandon them and others would step in to care for them? Cannibus sativa? Not my sort of thing at all, rather weedy looking and wretched, but, well, it is green. And you'd get a return on your investment.

Trying to visualize this site. From the description it appears that the lilac and red maple are 10-feet apart, with a walkway (4 feet wide) between them, so the two trees are also 4 feet from the walkway? The existing plant spacing will require maintenance just to keep the two tree from crowding each other and the walkway. The two different types of trees in a very symetrical garden layout doesn't appeal to me either.

Another assumptions, people straying from the walkway, so a tough treadable plant is needed nearest the path. Under the maple tree dry shade.

As mentioned already, vinca minor and epimedium are good plant choices. I would also add leucothoe (Girards rainbow). Epimediums tend to be semi-evergreen for me in zone 6/5? but survive planted under the shade and dryness of mature trees. With adequate snow cover, vinca minor will survive the winter keep its evergreen color for a welcoming spring, and it's tolerant to occasional traffic. Dog hobble can provide some height and more shade tolerant evergreen color for the winter.

8-dog hobble, 40 epimedium, and 360 vinca minor. Dog hobble near the rear along the foundation, epimedium around plant trunks, and vinca a near the front of the beds and along the walkways. A little color, evergreen (mostly), height, and variety of leaf color and shape. Maintenance weeding will still be needed during establshment.

Liatris spicata makes a good ground cover, and also a good contrast in texture with vinca, epimediums, or lamium. The vinca would be totally everygreen, but the other three would need yearly trimming back of old growth in late winter. That would be about the only maintenance involved.

Which red maple? I've seen red leafed Japanese, red leafed Norway, and Acer rubrum all referred to as red maples. If it's really Acer rubrum, it'll eat the entire space pretty quickly. and the idea would probably be to establish some sort of ground cover that can compete with the tree and handle the fall leaf drop. However, even that will require some weeding. It may be different in a drier climate, but I haven't run into a ground cover yet that isn't solid pavement and doesn't require at least some weeding.

Ink,
You have not really identified the problem(s) yet.

1. Size of present tree/shrub? Other trees close by which will drop leaves also? Sun/shade situation?

2. What "failed' about the other designer's work? Customers did not like it? Grass wouldn't grow? Too much to maintain? Poor design?

3. Is it possible to play with the sidewalk? Widening, changing so that it becomes a part of the design and takes up more space. This option, of course, depends on townhouse rules.

4. Plants are plants. It is impossible to whip them into conforming to our ideals of maintenance free. Do your clients understand this?

Could we entertain the notion that this thread is a mental exercise or eventually there will be "the rest of the story"?

If not, perhaps the clients could compensate for time and effort already spent then contemplate apartment living where the only contact with anything green and growing would be walking past a Norfolk Pine or Spathyphylum in the lobby.

Or, another thought - small enough area to make good use of the dreaded landscape fabric; pile a big load of saltmarsh hay on top and dot liberally with well anchored plastic plants (everblooming, no unruly growth) to keep the hay from blowing away.

This has been a truly useful exercise for me and I thank all who participated (even duluth!). This brain storming has unblocked the block and I think I can come up with something. I will take pictures of the before and after type for Jo, always assuming I get the job. Ah!the thrill of the chase. Andrew wouldn't get out of bed for this little money.

Come one...they guy that constantly rallies against mediocrity is looking for ideas and the best we can come up with are groundcovers (and one vote for concrete!)? I will admit that it is hard for me to envision ideas without seeing the space and the $2,000 budget does limit the amount of hardscape than can be installed. Maybe Jo is right...how many pavers does $2K buy?

- Brent

I'll give mediocrity a little nudge.

Remove the Lilac and Maple. Put down weed cloth and top with tumbled glass. Buy an assortment of pots to work with the glass color or colors that will not crack in the cold Canadian winters.

Fill pots with dried arrangements that can be tossed and replaced when they get ragged. Stay in budget.

Take pictures of the before and after and post them on the forum.

amili

Mediocrity is often what the client dictates, whether by intent or not, and appears to be the case in this instance with an extremely limited budget and the stated desire for no/low maintenance. So if that is the brief, then providing exactly that solution, well-considered and addressed, has satisfied all the requirements.

I think what all non-professionals have difficulty accepting in the day-to-day plying of this trade is that not every project will result in a tour de force. And I'd venture to say that those that do tend to be on the short end. Sorry folks, but there's your reality check.

And we don't exactly know the details of that $2K budget. Does that include Ink's fees for design and labor? If so, there is nowhere close to $2K available for pavers......a modest planting of groundcovers may be the only way to go.