Lantana builds up a thick dead thatch underneath a thin layer of live growth. The dead stuff gets thicker and thicker. Not good. Will there be irrigation? Besides the above suggestions, prostrate rosemary is nice and no-care for several years (then rip out and replace). Perhaps a groundcover Ceanothus or two? (you might be too far inland). Here the Senecio mandraliscae is beautiful but it does need some summer water else I get dead spots. Santolina chamaecyparissus nana if you don't mind deadheading/shearing once a year. My front yard has a south-facing slope. I had Baccharis and one Bouganvillia on there for 10 years. It had become a terrible nesting ground for rabbits. We were overrun. Now I'm replacing it all, leaving the Bouganvillia and adding Aloes, Agaves, Dyckias, Dudleyas, Senecios, Yuccas, Calandrinia grandiflora, etc. The bottom edge is a band of Dymondia margaretae which is effective at preventing runoff (dense roots). One fabulous south-facing slope I saw was just a sea of Senecio madralescae studded with Agave 'Blue Glow'. Wow was that sweet!

I run every morning and get to see alot of the neighborhood. A few people try to replace the grass in the utility easement with other ground covers. Asiatic jasmine and the beach flower seems to work. Last year one person killed his grass off covered it with plastic and proceded to put in that horrible red rubber mulch. Well I thought to each his own. He also put to beautiful creamic pots and planted 2 kinds of sweet potato vines the lime colored ornamental and a purple one they filled about half the strip and of course died back this winter. I noticed a few small potatoes spread out where the vines were. well this year it has completly covered the area and it is strikingly beautiful and weed free . Now I started my garden partially to get rid of all my grass and using edible landscaping appeals to me. I would much rather eat it than mow it. I have 6 types of sweet potatoes started this summer and 2 types look promising. I plan on trying a small experiment with one or two out front next year minus the rubber mulch LOL. Robert

Thank you all for your suggestions. I really appreciate getting some good ideas. This spot has been a problem for a few years and as I mentioned is getting worse. I have to be very careful what I plant however. DH just last year pulled out all of the vinca ground cover I had around part of the back and the north side of our house due it being too hardy and covering over the bushes and sidewalk. lol He has spotted a few trying to come back and he has already said he is going after them so I know whatever I plant must not vine. I like the Asian Jasmine very much and I believe the right color variety would look good with the photinias. If we could do as Dawn mentioned and just mow them to keep them off the bushes it might work and they might be able to withstand the late sun they will get. I also love thrift. I have had it as mixed ground cover in front of my house for years and it was just breath taking many springs and falls as well. But something happened to it in the last year or so...either the floods or the ice storms. It is trying to make a come back but is pretty sparse as of now. I know it can take sun since my house faces west and gets intense heat. It has been a challenge to find one which meets all my needs in this spot and is something DH will tolerate as well.....lol. Oh and BTW I forgot to mention it will have to be able to endure being trampled when DH prunes the photinias...lol. I think Ajuga is very nice ground cover but I really don't think it would survive the conditions I have. The purple heart I know to be a very hardy and pretty plant and low maintance but I agree Dawn it might look a little like overkill with the photinias. I find a twig of it in some of my beds around here occasionally so I am sure some of my neighbors must have it. Speaking of plants coming from neighbors...I had a battle last summer with the green variety of "jew" coming up EVERYWHERE around here. I didn't think I would ever get rid of it. Apparently seed must have washed through the yard during all the flooding rains. From the plants you all have mentioned I think the only two which might work are the Asian Jasmine or the thrift. I wonder if the thrift will have too much roots for me with all those power lines? I know the ones I planted in front came in half gallon pots. Yikes! But perhaps we could have the electric company come out and mark the lines so we can avoid them....it is pretty scary. Since this spot of my yard is in perfect view from my patio I need to do something with it. It looks pretty ugly right now with so much bare soil showing. Even thought DH gives the photinias a severe pruning pretty often and tries to keep them from being too tall still the bare spot is growing larger each year. Thank you all for your helpful suggestions and I will let you know what I end up doing. I have had so much else going on lately I have given little thought to any kind of gardening. After last year I am pretty disgusted with it to tell you the truth. It was THE WORST season for me EVER. And Dawn...no we have not been traveling. We have kept busy with going through our entire property and doing a massive clean out. I hope to have a huge garage sale and cut way down on things around here. I just want to SIMPLIFY. We finally redecorated our master bedroom and bathroom too....so we have kept very busy all winter. Now I am just ready for WARMTH. Lots of sunshine and WARMTH! Thank ya'll! G.M.

Thanks for your suggestions! I really like the idea of wintergreen; it's an attractive plant! If you are growing it, what has your experience with it been? Specifically in terms of spreading to fill an area. I haven't seen it available at local nurseries, and it's expensive online. I'd hate to order enough to fill an area, only to have it fail. I suppose I am most attracted to very low growing evergreen ground covers with dark foliage. But really I just want something that works, and doesn't require a lot of water or maintenance. I would rather spend my time in the yard cultivating edible plants. Wouldn't plowing bring up more weeds? In the past couple of years the clover and violets did a pretty decent job of blocking out the other weeds (only where they grew of course)--but this year not so much. The weather has been quite squirrelly, which may be the cause. We had chickweed emerging in January/February this year, and it didn't seem bothered by the 20° temps. It just grew up before the clover did, I guess, and in abundance. If only I were inclined to eat it! I tried a little test burn today with the propane torch, and man that thing is terrifying! One problem with it I realized is that the soil will dry out and harden real fast without anything covering it. The weeds at least keep moisture in the ground. We do walk around our yard, but really only in limited areas. Of course, if we fill in more areas with plants we like to visit, then we will be walking over more places! One troubled area is underneath a giant magnolia tree (which is rooted in a neighbor's yard, but hangs over a large portion of ours). Many of the plants I like would make it difficult to rake out the debris it drops (Creeping Thyme, for example, or even clover), and conversely the debris makes it difficult to grow things I like. At first I was happy just to leave it "natural" and let the leaves and cones fall where they will, but it does make walking in that area rather unpleasant, and leaves it an easy target for opportunistic plants. The leaves and cones don't break-down fast at all.