So, ive got this L shaped tree line on the west and south border of my lawn. Theirs mainly old growth poplar there, as well as a couple spruce in the southwest corner. these provide a bit of sun block during the summer and they do a decent job of keeping the afternoon sun off the house and yard.

My only issue, is the area under these trees is a bit of an eyesore. sparse grass growth and the weeds like to try taking over more than anything and its a pain to mow and trim under the branches!

This is a rather large area, roughly 650m2. Im looking for thoughts/ideas on what can be done to make this more visually appealing without creating endless amounts of work throughout the year, even if that means a fair bit of work upfront.

I had thought about covering the area in cedar chips, which would be quite costly and likely have some negative effects on the plants that i put in there, as well as my vegetable garden being right up against the tree line at the south end. So maybe some other type of mulch, or another idea to suppress weeds and provide an appealing background?

I am by no means a garden or landscaping expert, so im just shooting from the hip with any of my ideas. i was thinking of polluting the area with red creeping thyme to choke out weeds and that may work, but it would also be pretty bland to cover the whole area with something like that

I live in a zone 3 area, and id like to go with perennials so my options are going to be limited. As well, my lawn borders my crop land so their is always the possibility of pest intrusion from the field, but likely not a major concern to any hearty plant. The crop rotation includes canola and we do have years where the bertha army worms, diamond back moths, flea beetles, cutworms all take their turns trying to take over which is why i had though of cedar chips in the first place just incase they decide to move out of the field

Id upload a pic, but theirs not much to see right now, its all under snow, but it wont be long!