This isn't off-topic for the rose forums, because the context is a garden whose "back bone" IS roses.

Let us remember the conditions of my garden, so you can understand the context. My garden is in a woodland,a 20 minute drive from my home. There is no running water, no house. It's very, very big-way too much for one middle-aged woman to care for by herself, yet that's what I do. I've been working on it for about 20 years now,and slowly it is shaping up -I started from scratch; my the area of my property in which I made the garden was very badly eroded and neglected.

It's so big, so only a pretty limited area of said garden is dedicated to growing floribundas and roses of that sort-the rest of it is given over to vigorous climbers and shrubs and ramblers. Every year I spend a lot of time and energy clearing out giant weeds,some of which grow in very difficult-to reach areas, where one can't mow or weed-whack,and I want to cultivate these areas with weed-smothering ground covers which will only require a minimum of attention.

I pretty much know that this could work-way back when I was just starting, I planted vincas in two areas, and they have by now created a thick,vast mat. Since I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't weed-proof these ares before planting, so some weeds DO grow through, but this area is still so much easier to cope with than the areas without the vinca. So I would like to fill in other areas with some kind of fast-growing, weed-smothering ground cover. The areas in question are between very large, well-established roses that only require attention once or twice a year, at most (Clbg. Old Blush, Purple Skyliner, Rosengarten Zweibrucken, a large ceanothus, etc). I just weeded put down cardboard to prepare the soil for next fall , which is planting season here in Tuscany, Italy. Of course I could just keep using vincas, but I do enjoy experimenting and learning new things, so I was hoping that some of you might have some interesting suggestions. I'm looking for something that's evergreen, because here in Italy a lot of weeds can grow even in winter. Thanks in advance!

Ha! I was just going to suggest vinca! Have you considered pachysandra, liriope or even prostrate junipers?

Ivy sure does eliminate the weeds unless ivy is considered a weed, too. Abraham Darby has done fine with it here in zone 9.

I am also growing a dwarf red osier that is fantastic at weed suppression and grows very nicely down a hill. It's quite a pretty plant.

Thank you all. How fast does pachysandra grow? I love ivy, but it would need a lot of viligence to keep it in check, so want to avoid it for this reason. I'm really looking for carpet-forming plants whose roots will be shallow enough to not compete with the roses.

Have you considered: Hardy Geranium (Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Biokovo')

I have large patch that never needs maintenance or watering - even in our drought years

Thank you, IslandGarden-that looks interesting!

Here is a ground cover you may want to consider if it's available in your country.



There isn't much about it on this website, but do a google search for it and you can read more about it.

I have used it extensively in gardens I've done for other people as well as in my own garden. It only grows about 2 inches tall and grows very fast, forming a dense mat and is very good at keeping weeds out. I've used it around roses with no problem at all. It's very drought tolerant once established and can take foot traffic. It roots very easily from cuttings as well.