If your lawn looks lean and your landscape limp during hot, dry
weather and the sprinkler is a life support system, maybe it’s
time you reassess your landscape. Maybe you need to think of ways
to reduce its water demand.

With careful planning and plant selection, you can develop a
quality landscape that requires little to no water beyond what
Mother Nature provides.

Using drought-tolerant ground covers is a great alternative to
areas that require routine watering to keep them looking their
best. Many are economical and easy to establish. And they provide
years of low-maintenance beauty.

For hot, dry, sunny sites, consider one of the horizontal or
creeping junipers, such as Blue Rug, Prince of Wales or Blue
Pacific. Junipers are tough as nails once they’re established.
They can survive long periods of limited rainfall.

Other Great Choices

Other great choices for dry, sunny sites include yarrow, hardy
ice plant, wintercreeper euonymus, Carolina jessamine, day lily,
liriope, mondo grass, sedum, trumpet creeper, creeping raspberry,
Virginia creeper and Asiatic jasmine.

For shady, dry sites, consider Japanese pachysandra or creeping lily turf.

When planting ground covers under trees, try not to disturb the
tree roots any more than you have to. If grass is growing under
the tree, spray it with Roundup. Wait a few hours for it to dry
on the foliage. Then dig planting holes carefully through the
turf, just large enough to put the plant in place, and add
mulch.

If liriope is your plant of choice, bear in mind that there are
two types — clumping and creeping.

Two Types of Liriope

Just as the name implies, clumping liriope, Liriope
muscari, stays somewhat confined to the clump, while the
creeping forms, Liriope spicata, spread by underground
rhizomes. They may creep several feet from the original
planting.

Both are great ground covers, but the creeping form is a little
more aggressive than the clumping types.

Proper spacing is important when planting ground covers so the
plants don’t overgrow their neighbors and become a maintenance
problem.

Space most of the ground covers mentioned above at least 18
inches to 2 feet apart in most landscape situations. Many of the
creeping junipers will spread 6 feet in all directions. Plant
them no closer than 2 feet apart.

Economy With ‘Liner Plants’

An economical way to establish ground covers is to buy what are
commonly called “liner plants” in the nursery trade. These are
small plants grown in cell-packs or 2-inch pots.

Some ground-cover suppliers will also ship some types of ground
covers bare-root for next-day planting. Check with your local
nurseryman about the availability of liner plants.

He may not have them in stock. But he can likely special-order
them from his suppliers. Georgia has some of the largest
ground-cover nurseries in the nation. Plants are readily
available from wholesale growers.

Although ground covers help reduce water use in the long run,
they will need to be watered regularly, just like other plants,
during establishment.

About six weeks after planting, give a tug on a few of the plants
to see if they feel well rooted. If so, you can begin to
gradually wean them off water and let Mother Nature take control
of the irrigation.