Here's some pics from today. Don't mind my 'weeding hen' - she follows me all over the yard and ends up in lots of photos.
This is the base of my deck stairs. Northern exposure, shady. River rock set in sand, with native dirt below. I planted several plugs of
Scotch Moss (Sagina subulata 'Aurea') in 2011 which slowly got beaten out by grasses and weeds. I do get a fair amount of a native moss (?) that has no discernible root system (shown in my hand). I've got it all cleaned out yet again, ready to try something else. The native moss will colonize this winter, but it is no match for the grass and dandelions. I have a similar river rock landing next to a frost-free faucet (one of those red pump looking things) that is also pretty shady. It's currently totally overgrown and buried by a fallen honeysuckle trellis, so no photos.
Here's the edge of my stairs which off/on includes volunteer dandelions, grass, sedums, centaura, toadflax, and CA poppies. I let some grow, pull others. Wouldn't mind planting something specific to grow in the cracks, which just get larger over time.
Here's one of the expansion joints in the sidewalk, cleaned out. It previously had wood as a filler which has now rotted. I'm guessing there is a gravel base with native soil below, so the drainage will be fairly sharp and heat is a factor given the surrounding concrete. This gets east and south sun.
And, here's the entrance to our firepit/patio area, which gets full sun, facing west. This has been successful with
Irish Moss (Sagina subulata) planted at the top landing and
Red Creeping Thyme (Thymus praecox 'Coccineus') surrounding the steps. The moss tends to get a bit thick, but is really cushy on bare feet so quite manageable.
I've typically had poor luck with thyme - it looks nice the second year then often gets scraggly or hollow in the middle. Crossing fingers on the red thyme, which is going on Year 4 and doing well. It gets full sun and I am better at watering this area.
I may try to move some of the Scotch moss to the base of the deck stairs, although I'm not sure if it will do well in shade. Seems like it would, but the patch I do have is in full-on all-afternoon sun, so...??
Hope this helps. I'm hoping to either direct seed or start some plugs and plant out in early spring. Thanks for any suggestions.
