# Spring, a time for planting...



## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

I live in eastern TN, USDA planting hardiness zone of around 6

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/hzm-se1.html 


I'm interested in garden modelers favs of ground cover, you know moss, low herbaceous plants that resemble grass and shrubs to scale. 


What works good for other modelers and I want to also hear about what seemed like a good idea but to avoid since it has taken over their garden RR like Kudzu.

FYI, it's almost midnight and it's a pleasant 65 degrees on the back deck for reference.


Thanks,

Scott


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## snowshoe (Jan 2, 2008)

Your best best is to go to your local lowes or garden center first and see what they have. They usually carry things that will work for those areas. Whats nice about Lowes is if it dies within a year you can get your money back. Some great ground cover thatI have had good luck with is irish moss, creeping thyme, stone crop ( this spreads fast) brass buttons, elfin thyme (my faverite). Most of the Phloxes look nice as well. Golden Jenny is nice and brightens dark areas of the layout. I also just planted Blue star? creeper so I will see how that does. Sedums tend to spead fast. Lowes usually has all the above. For shaded area perewickle is nice as is some of the smaller ferns and native mosses. Another nice plant is Pacasandra (sorry spelt wrong) the leaves are a bit big but I have had good results with it. Your best bet is hit the local lowes and see what they have. Im always trying something new. Dont forget what works for one person might not do well for another. I know Jerry Barnes is not a fan of Stone crop but for me I love the stuff and works real nice on my layout. Dont be afraid to experiment.


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## White Deer RR (May 15, 2009)

I just purchased something called Dwarf Club Moss Fern. Best I can tell from the Internet, it's neither a moss nor a fern, but some kind of very ancient vascular plant, whatever that means. (I like plants well enough, but I'm far from knowledgeable.)

Kind of a neat little plant, supposedly low growing and a bright-ish green, it looked like little hedges placed next to a few buildings. The plant card said full to partial shade, moist soil, grows to 6" high and spreads to 24"-36". Not sure if it will stay in a round shape, or if it will survive on the south side of the house over the summer. Anyhow, I thought it was a neat looking little plant and I risked eight dollars or whatever to see if it works. Good luck!


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

thanks for the input. In this area there are many things like flox and sedum that do well [indeed, do very well, like take over the garden] but to my taste they are still kind of large for basic ground cover. The mosses look most like grass to me but seem difficult to grow. I was wondering if anyone has had any succcess with what I would call very compact ground cover, like moss.


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## Ralph Berg (Jun 2, 2009)

I have quite a bit of moss growing on my GRR. One type grows rather flat, another grows more "mounded".
I have no difficulty growing it, and it even tolerates a fair amount of sun.
If the link works, here's a photo showing the "mounded" type moss. Link shows correctly in the editor, but not when it posts.
You'll have to cut and paste into your browser.
BTW, also in zone 6. 
Ralph 


https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/pho...directlink


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Here are a couple of photos of my old layout in N. Virginia. I used moss to cover a large portion of my RR. In most cases I dug it up in the woods or even my neighbor's yard (with permission). The area only received late afternoon and evening sun so it was mostly shady. The moss took hold quite easily and helped keep the weeds down. It lasted until I moved with little to no maintenance. I'm sorry that my new layout has no shade.


As you can see from the first photo, there are several varieties of moss. Don't ask me what they are, they were native.





















Doc


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

That's pretty much exactly the kind of look I want to achieve someday. Doc. You'll have to plant you some shade trees in your yard down there in Hendersonville. Did you have to water it at all or did Mother Nature pretty well maintain it after you got it started? I know there are other low ground covers/herbs like some of Thyme family. I wonder if they'd give you that kind of low 'grass-like' coverage but thrive in the sun. [?] 
There's something else you had going on back by your trestle. Was that like a vinca type plant? 
Thanks for sharing the photos. 

Scott


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Scott,

The moss pretty much took care of itself. I only watered during extended droughts. Beware, birds love to build nests out of this stuff. It was easy to repair. I just went into the woods with a shovel and scraped of some and filled in any dead or empty spots.

The ground cover near the trestle was Mazus. Pretty common in VA but I haven't seen it around here.

I'm currently looking into the various types of thyme and miniature Stonecrop as general purpose ground covers. Below is a photo of my current layout (under construction) showing a combination of Ice Plant and Creeping Jenny. Both require some maintenance to keep off the tracks.


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## mgilger (Feb 22, 2008)

If you can find some Elfin Thyme, that's real good. It keeps very low to the ground and spreads out pretty good. It's the stuff to the left of this photo. It will creep out maybe 3-4 inches each year and is easy 

to tear some off and transplant into another area. 










Regards,

Mark

*http://mmg-garden-rr.webs.com*


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

That looks great Mark. That's the stuff I'm looking for. Thanks for the pretty picture.

Doc


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

Has anybody experimented with any kind of shielding, like metal or copper flashing buried under ballast or something else like weed barrier cloth to prevent roots from spreading into areas that you don't want the ground cover to grow to keep plants from spreading past where you want them to root?


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Scott,

I think you'll find that the typical weed barrier cloth will sufficient to keep most weeds from growing under your track. On my new layout, I did a couple of things. I first leveled everything, then I laid a strip of cloth wide enough to cover the area under the track plus about 4 inches on either side. Next I laid down some 2X2 aluminum flashing. In some places, mostly where there was a single track going down, I glued the flashing sides together with cedar strips to hold them in place and in other areas where there were 2 or 3 tracks being laid down I punched holes in the flashing and drove in 3" nails to hold the flashing down. Finally, I filled the space between the flashing strips with stone/rock dust (crusher fines to some).

There are a couple of things to consider: wind-blown seeds and creeping ground covers. Both will lead to stuff growing in and over whatever you've laid down to prevent this from happening.

Here is a photo of a section of track on my new layout. Notice the flashing on each side of the track and the ballast between. You can see the ballast has compacted over the past 5 months. When I do the final ballasting, it will bring the ballast even with the top of the flashing.

Also notice the Creeping Jenny trying to creep over the track. I have to trim the groundcover every several weeks.










Hope this provides a little help when it comes time to build your layout.

Doc


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## mgilger (Feb 22, 2008)

Scott,
Another suggestion might be the Golden Pearlwort. It and excellent low groundcover plant that grows to a height of 1 inch. I've just recently started planting it here with good results. 



Regards,
Mark
*http://mmg-garden-rr.webs.com*


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## Naptowneng (Jun 14, 2010)

Scott- you also asked what NOT to use, for that I nominate Vinca Major. Worse then english ivy, never plant this where you don't want it to take over the world
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinca_major

It is actually responsible for my layout, as it took over so much of a corner of my yard, I spent 3 days ripping it out, and put my garden RR there.

Regards

Jerry


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