I have a 30 ft. Norway Spruce tree on the nne exposed corner of my front yard, with multitudes of weeds etc. growing under it. I want to clear it out and plant sturdy evergreen ground cover that will inhibit grapevines, weed trees, poison ivy, etc. I'm considering sweet woodruff, vinca and lily of the valley. Comments?

well, thanks to all your suggestions I've got it narrowed down (sort of). I'm going to check around for the availability for some of these. I really like the looks of Pinus thunbergii 'Thunderhead' which isn't a groundcover but it is kind of the look we want pruned. Here are the other contenders: Pinus thunbergii 'Thunderhead' Pinus strobus 'Blue Shag' Pseudotsuga menziesii 'Little Jon' dwarf doug fir Picea pungens 'Globe colorado spruce Juniperus procumbens Pinus sylvestris 'Albyn' Pinus Sylvesrtis 'Hillside Creeper' Juniperus horizontalis 'Wiltoni' Pinus resinosa ÂQuinobequin Pinus resinosa ÂDon Smith Pinus contorta ÂSpaans Dwarf I liked the Iseli Nursery site for pics & descriptions & I also found this one in the link below. Susan, We don't have a Japanese garden per se but we do incorporate that type of plantings & sculpture wherever we can..it's a 10 acre piece & we've kept it mostly native & wild except for the house.The bank is in back of the house.Unfortunately there is no native rocks on the property & we've had to import all that we have. Do you have a Japanese Garden way up there in Silverton ? :) Here is a link that might be useful: Conifer Cultivars of North America

Wintergreen, it is evergreen, it will grow pretty much anywhere that has an acidic soil. The entire plant is eatable, also it produces red berries in the winter months that attract wildlife. Off the top of my head botanical is spelled gaulthreia procumbens. Seeds can be found at trade winds fruit store under herbs. I have had awesome germination rates from the seeds I have purchased from them.

I know that vinca is supposed to be fast growing and invasive, and there are plenty of people trying to get rid of it, but mine is still fairly thin in places I *want* it to grow. It does allow weeds to grow in the spaces while it's getting established. Pachysandra is the same way--very persistent even where you don't want it, but seems to take a fair amount of time to get really dense. At least there are likely going to be ample people willing to give you free or cheap offerings of both vinca and pachysandra. Same thing for wintercreeper, but do read the warnings about its invasive tendencies, especially if you're near woods. I've become a big fan of microbiota. It may not be the fastest thing on earth, but it's noticeably increased. It takes snow load well, it's soft in texture, it out-competes weeds, and it's had very little winter kill. If you want to see what a really well established patch looks like, check out Tower Hill Botanic Garden.