Yes ( former).

Mannerly.

Agressive is a stretch.

At least in my experience.

It's better behaved than the ferns and lily of the valley. A root barrier seems to keep the gang in check ... then they can go to war amongst themselves.

I’ll pass

I don't like the look of it. I even prefer vinca to it in terms of looks. I like ajuga for its shade tolerance and weed smothering. I don know if it could compete with tree roots.

I'm not fond of the standard variety, but I grow P. 'Green Sheen', which has unbelievably shiny, waxed and polished leaves. Unfortunately for me, it's not as vigorous as the common kind. I really have to encourage it, lol. It does make a sizable clump, but it's not a solid mat. Every year or two I divide some of it from around the edge so I can spread it around, and it will fill back in. I just think of it as a large-ish patch of an unusual perennial. It makes a great contrast to hostas, of which I have even more of than roses, lol.

John

I love it, tried Green Sheen, but could not get it to grow here in CA.

Maybe I should have tried the standard variety.

I grow P. procumbens, Allegheny spurge. Native to my area, very slow to increase, gone in winter, but very interesting looking when it's first coming up and through the season.

I think it’s handsome as a kempt, lush groundcover for either Japanese or English style schemes. A cultivated rather than wild look. It keeps a neat edge and suppresses virtually all weeds. Deer don’t touch it. Unfortunately it’s not native here so it’s an ecological zero unless you use the American one, whose attributes are diluted. That said, I do use it, probably more than I should.

No. I find it uninspiring.

It's a good utilitarian groundcover and it is nicely evergreen here. I use it to suppress weeds in a couple of deep shade places. Uninspiring is a good way to put it otherwise.

It is okay but I think there are other shade tolerant groundcovers that are more attractive. There is a patch next to the house, there when I bought the place, that I battle to keep off the walls and out of the other shrubs. I am working on pulling it out.

Under a large maple, I have vinca and it allows pulmonaria, hosta, epimedium, painted fern (had to baby that one to get it established), coral bells and even a daylily to grow up through it, but suppresses weeds. It is easy to give it a haircut along the edge of the planting, once or twice a year, to keep it in bounds.

raee_gw, are you sure you're talking about pachysandra? It doesn't climb at all, and I've rarely seen it over 8 inches tall. Admittedly, it's not something I'd want where other small perennials were growing, but I don't know anyone with the problem of having to keep it "off the walls" or "out of...shrubs", lol. That sounds more like English ivy...

I don't mind it at all, it serves a purpose.

Once it's established it makes a nice uniform cover that is pretty much no-maintenance, and in the fall, autumn leaves just disappear when they come down.

It's been a long time since I had a crab apple tree on a property - over 40 years, but we did live in a house with two massive crabapples in the front lawn and if I remember right, the root system is very much on the surface too and nothing grew under them. I'm not a big fan of Pachysandra, but, if you like the way it looks and can find a maintenance method you don't have too much trouble with to keep it where you want it, I guess it might be difficult to get anything else to grow under a crabapple. I can't imagine it is an environment that is friendly to other shade plants.

I love the look of big patches of it under trees. I like the way it adds interest to a front yard--kind of breaks up the big lawn look. Mine has those sweet little white flowers on it right now. Mine, unfortunately, has never been a big spreader, much less aggressive. I think it's because, at both houses I have lived in, it's been in an area that gets barely any sun. I imagine the more light, the more spread?

fig_insanity, you are right -- I was having a brain glitch. There is a euonymus (I think it is) planted at one end of the patch that has infiltrated the pachy, and it is the wall climbing culprit. I was just visualizing the patch as I typed, I think. It is being cut down and out as well.