I convinced my neighbor to try a couple of plants in her hellstrip (the strip between the road and the sidewalk). So far it has been spreading and doing well even though it has been basically ignored outside of the initial watering. It has only been around a month, although it did sit in the pots for at least another month before planting. Still it is growing well.

I've read great things about it, but so far that is the only experience I have with it.

In the community where I live, perennial peanut is being planted in some of the medians and other common areas. The person in charge of the overall landscape in the area spoke to our Garden Club several months ago. I learned that there are different types of perennial peanut. The variety being planted here is Ecoturf.

The link below is a University of Fl paper on the subject.

June

Here is a link that might be useful: Perennial Peanut

Perennial peanut will look ratty in cold weather and will freeze to the ground in winter. It will come back from the roots in spring, but you will have a bare area. You can sow with winter rye or mulch the area until it comes back.

Perennial peanut also closes its leaves at dusk, so it looks like a bunch of tangled stems until the sun comes back up.

Perennial peanut doesn't take foot traffic like grass does.

Weeds will grow through perenial peanut, so either you have to mow it now and then or weed.

Otherwise, in my experience is seems to be a pretty good groundcover.

If the area is sunny, Argentine bahia would be another good alternative to St. Augustine. It does need mowing, but it's much easier to grow.

Bill

Great thread! We've met with two landscapers over the past couple of weeks, and both of them suggested perennial peanut as a possible groundcover for our front yard, which gets no foot traffic whatsoever. The suggested alternatives for us were sensitive mimosa or dwarf Asiatic jasmine. I've read the UF paper on using the jasmine as a groundcover, as well as the perennial peanut.
In our situation, we've got a lot of horrible, fairly aggressive weeds, so I'm wondering if any of these options (peanut, sensitive mimosa, or Asiatic jasmine) are aggressive enough to outcompete the weeds, once established. Any thoughts on the relative aggression of each of these species?
Cheers!
Heather W

I also looked hard at groundcovers and THANKS castorp for the insght into perrenial peanut which my neighbor is considering. Doesn't sound good in it's "off-season".

We decided on dune sunflower. Only appropriate if not walking on it.
2 years ago I planted it and some mimosa. DSunflower won hands down. The mimosa is only just now (2 years) showing itself.

I also bought a couple pots of the jasmine because a landscaper rec'd it and later read how slow growing it is (and expensive) so booted that choice.

IMO dune sunflower is the best choice.

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Since these photos were taken the DS has spread fantastically, no irrigation but water a couple times a week in the beginning to get it started.
We planted some with and some without cardboard/newspaper weed barrier and it's MUCH better WITH the cardboard or there WILL BE WEEDS popping up.

You don't need mulch if you don't use cardboard but then you'll need to spray Round-up with the danger of hitting your dune sunflower (or you'll need to pull weeds.

We're thrilled with the results and if I can find current photos I'll post them.

BTW there are TWO kinds of dune sunflower: East Coast (lower growing) and West Coast (little taller). We have both because couldn't find more of the East Coast which was planted first along the road. Both are fine, just wanted to inform.

Denise

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P.S. Notice the brown bahia grass in picture 2 vs. how green the established D. sunflower. It greens up with rain but the D. sunflwer is ALWAYS green with no water.

Wedelia...can be tall, but if you mow it it stays tight and still flowers. Crazy fast grower. Just don't put it in your beds if you wanna keep it in check.

Very nice Denise! I've been thinking about trying some of that :-)

I agree with Bill about the ornamental peanuts, lots of downfalls. Looks ratty on a fairly regular basis and you'll constantly be weeding it. I've got it in a small area so it's not hard to manage, but if you're thinking of a substantial portion of the yard I'd consider the jasmine. It will fill in thickly within a year and it's fairly easy to keep manicured. These are not the best pictures because I just took them, not good sunlight for perspective. If you have any interest I'll shoot some pictures tomorrow morning.

Tom

Peanuts:

Dwarf Asiatic Jasmine:

BTW, in that last shot the unvariegated jasmine is growing over a fairly lager live oak stump cut to ground level. The tree had the most beautiful shape but was lifting up the concrete driveway slabs, and my potable water line and meter were a foot inside those slabs so I would have soon had a major problem. To add insult to injury the reclaimed water line, power line and telephone lines all ran under the oak tree so it had to come out. I have no idea what the original owners were thinking when they planted the oak tree there :-( So now you see just jasmine, not jasmine surrounding a gorgeous tree, but the point is that the jasmine is clearly covering an unsightly stump.

Tom