Rocky sloped area for ground cover

by Bill Allen
(Clarksville, Tn USA)

I'm im businees in Clarksville Tn. I have a large area that we put down 4 to 6" rocks down to pervent moving. The only problem is 10 years later weeds are growing like crazy looks really bad. Can you help? Can I plant a cover that will take over the weeds?

Thanks
Bill

Bill - there is no ornamental ground cover that will fight off weeds without maintenance - particularly at the beginning.

Two options

What I might suggest is that you put a thin layer of topsoil over this and grow ornamental grasses in there. You might have to do a little watering in drought time but for the most part a very aggressive, ornamental grass is going to stabilize the bank, look good and be relatively maintenance free.

The closest thing to a groundcover that might make it happen would be a crown vetch. This is an aggressive plant often used on roadsides. You'd have to lay some topsoil over top of the rock- sow seed or install plants and let them get going. Once growing strongly (a year or two) then they tend to strangle out other invaders with great gusto. This is an extermely aggressive spreading plant so it's usually only used in extreme conditions.

Those would be two suggestions - good luck with it - a local nursery can provide both and may have some other options. Just understand the low growing groundcovers used in home landscaping require a lot of upkeep in the first while and ongoing maintenance afterwards to fight off grasses and other weeds that will invade.