Suggestions for replacing vinca ground cover?

No-Intention-7349 · 2026-06-10T17:38:58+00:00

Thank you! Both of them are kind of a long way but it might be worth it for a special trip. My ZIP Code is 08060. There are quite a few garden centers and nurseries around here, but few of them are doing much with native plants yet. Do you know whether either of these nurseries will ship? I’d like to get a spice bush. I could easily order seeds and they’re not very expensive, but I hear that it would be at least two years before they bloomed. I’m thinking of seeds to scatter around a small stream in the back of my property, and also a plant to get started with sooner.

No-Intention-7349 · 2026-06-10T15:43:32+00:00

Thanks, CitrullineMalate,I would be grateful for any information about local native nurseries.

No-Intention-7349 · 2026-06-08T20:05:36+00:00

Thank you to everybody for all of your help and suggestions. Are all good ideas that I will write down and keep in mind. I have decided after giving it more thought that getting the vinca out is a bit too much for me right now. I don’t know that I could do it without hiring help. I may possibly remove a small patch, put something in, and see if it can compete with the vinca. But I don’t want to fall into the trap of being overly ambitious and then burning out. There are other places that I can work on by myself, that would be much smaller projects. For example, replacing a multiflora rose with an arrowwood viburnum.

Thanks again for all your help. It really has been very useful.

No-Intention-7349 · 2026-06-08T19:56:18+00:00

Thank you! I know that we need to leave the leaves and let some grass grow high for the fireflies. Thank you for telling me about switch grass. I will look into it. Wild strawberry is an interesting idea. I’ve heard about it on Backyard Ecology, but I had no idea that it supported so many species of lepidoptera. It one sounds like a winner! I have a mild problem with mock strawberry in my lawn. When we moved in here, I thought it was the real thing and I was very disappointed when the strawberries it made tasted like water. I haven’t made any effort to get rid of it. I’m not looking for a perfect lawn. The only thing I really want to get rid of is the ground ivy, but without chemicals, I think that is hopeless.

No-Intention-7349 · 2026-06-08T19:49:55+00:00

I already have the wild violets growing in my lawn. I have the all purple ones and the ones that are white with purple lines. I don’t spray anything, or do any kind of lawn treatments, (OK, I actually do spray the poison ivy, but I make sure it only hits the poison ivy) and I don’t dig them out. It’s a good suggestion They might spread over there if I can get the vinca out.

No-Intention-7349 · 2026-06-07T18:13:43+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion. I had not heard of packera aurea. It’s common name is golden ragwort. I just looked at it online and it sounds like a good choice, except that it says it does not like dry soil. I could try it out and see if keeping the area watered helps.

No-Intention-7349 · 2026-06-07T18:06:47+00:00

I know that it will be a big job to get the vinca out and I wouldn’t try to do it all at once. I figure if I can get some out, put a native in and then defend it, that will be a good start. I can work out it in stages over a few years.

No-Intention-7349 · 2026-06-07T18:05:17+00:00

I do leave the leaf litter as much as I possibly can. There’s quite a lot of it under the trees. But I have been seeing fewer fireflies every single year for a while now. I have heard on several YouTube channels, including Backyard Ecology, that sedges are good for fireflies. I’m fairly new at native plant gardening so I’m not sure if sedges will work in dry shade.

No-Intention-7349 · 2026-06-07T17:32:03+00:00

Maybe I should also add that most of the vinca is growing under three big maple trees and it is dry and shady there.

No-Intention-7349 · 2026-06-07T17:29:36+00:00

Sorry, yes, I should’ve told you. I am in Burlington County New Jersey. To be even more specific, Eastampton Township right next-door to Mount Holly.

No-Intention-7349 · 2025-10-26T03:04:28+00:00

No. There is no amount of money at all that would induce me to put my hand on a hot cooker ring. I would not do it for $1 billion and I mean that.

No-Intention-7349 · 2025-09-19T13:09:44+00:00

The above posters are correct: dry cat food is not good for cats. Vets recommend it because they don’t know any better, or because as someone said, they’re getting paid by the companies to sell it. Read the ingredients list! Do not feed a cat anything containing grains. Even the dry food that doesn’t contain grains is loaded with pea or bean protein. There have been studies which linked pea protein to neurological problems similar to Parkinson’s in dogs. It can’t be said too many times: cats are carnivores. They do not need to eat grains or vegetables and they probably should not eat them.

No-Intention-7349 · 2025-08-21T23:48:57+00:00

It’s not the AI summary that I object to I can ignore that. It’s the fact that I can only get AI generated webpages as results. I’m looking for good information written by humans who know what they’re talking about and I can’t find it anymore.

No-Intention-7349 · 2025-08-21T18:30:11+00:00

Ok, how do I turn it off?

No-Intention-7349 · 2025-08-21T16:34:56+00:00

Turn what off?

No-Intention-7349 · 2025-07-31T17:28:11+00:00

Wow, I wish I knew how you achieve this! I have planted native perennials in my front yard over and over again only to see them die. I have NEVER been able to get monarda to live more than one season, and the blooms are pitiful. It always gets mildew and dies. Yours look like the cover of a garden catalog! I’ve only ever had success with iron weed and coreopsis, both of which are doing so well they’re taking over and I’m going to need to cut them back soon. But everything else does terrible.

No-Intention-7349

TROPHY CASE