Pachysandra, ticks, and my dog (flower, green lawn, grow, Ground Covers)
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Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Hi!
We have a very shady and very wet area of our backyard that has exposed tree roots to boot. It's on a bit of a downslope and it's a mess.
That area gets particularly muddy and because we have a dog who loves to play in "his" yard, I spend a lot of time wiping his paws before he comes inside (which is a million times per day).
ANYWAY...
After much thought, we decided against putting rocks in the area and were encouraged to lay out top soil and plant pachysandra. We had planned on doing that later this month and then, when I started reading up more on pachysandra, I found that ticks are attracted to it.
Well! Pachysandra + ticks + dog = bad!!!!
We use Frontline on the dog but still...
Does anyone know if there are other ground covers that are not so attractive to ticks? Or any other ideas to create a natural (green) area that will not become a mud pit (i.e. that the top soil is not exposed but covered by some plant)?
It's not the Pachysandra, it's the groundcover. Ticks prefer moist, shady locations and will infest groundcovers, tall grass and weeds, shrubs, leaf litter.
If you scatter some pennyroyal plants (or seeds) around, fleas and ticks will not hang around long. The oil from this plant is used in organic flea sprays and works great in the house as a houseplant too. Park Seeds has them. Just don't use it if you have cats that like to chomp on things. It's fatal to cats.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,013,815 times
Reputation: 28903
Quote:
Originally Posted by paperhouse
If you scatter some pennyroyal plants (or seeds) around, fleas and ticks will not hang around long. The oil from this plant is used in organic flea sprays and works great in the house as a houseplant too. Park Seeds has them. Just don't use it if you have cats that like to chomp on things. It's fatal to cats.
Terrific solution! Thanks!!! It's not fatal to dogs, right? Wouldn't want to kill the pooch just to have a green lawn.
Terrific solution! Thanks!!! It's not fatal to dogs, right? Wouldn't want to kill the pooch just to have a green lawn.
Only at high doses. The problem with cats is that pennyroyal is a mint. Just like catnip. Sometimes, they can't really tell the difference and even a small amount can kill a cat. Dogs would have to ingest a lot to harm them. And most wouldn't like the flavor enough to eat that much.
Oil of pennyroyal or the crushed plant will repel insects, but the standing plants not so much - maybe not at all. You live in one of the ground zero tick disease locations; I just don't think that's good enough. Your pet might be fine with the medication; you may not be so lucky.
That doesn't mean that you can't have ground cover. Either treat the area with a pesticide or groom your pet daily and check for ticks.
After much thought, we decided against putting rocks in the area and were encouraged to lay out top soil and plant pachysandra. W
Does anyone know if there are other ground covers that are not so attractive to ticks? Or any other ideas to create a natural (green) area that will not become a mud pit (i.e. that the top soil is not exposed but covered by some plant)?
What about ivy? Is that a good alternative?
Thanks,
Dawn
Have you considered ajuga? When in bloom, it has very pretty flower spikes; it's super hardy, if you mow it, it just stays "close cropped"... The color of the leaves can range from medium green to dark purplish green.
Oil of pennyroyal or the crushed plant will repel insects, but the standing plants not so much - maybe not at all. You live in one of the ground zero tick disease locations; I just don't think that's good enough. Your pet might be fine with the medication; you may not be so lucky.
That doesn't mean that you can't have ground cover. Either treat the area with a pesticide or groom your pet daily and check for ticks.
Since the dog likes to play in that area, I assumed that it would provide enough crushing of the leaves to repel a lot of insects. I wouldn't stop using Frontline, which I use on my cat since fleas are the state insect of NC. I'm just not a fan of pesticides in the yard except in really exceptional cases.
Have you considered ajuga? When in bloom, it has very pretty flower spikes; it's super hardy, if you mow it, it just stays "close cropped"... The color of the leaves can range from medium green to dark purplish green.
I have a similar problem (hillside, shady, lots of white pines nearby so grass doesn't grow there. In other words, it's mostly dirt). I just looked up Ajuga and it sounds perfect since its extensive roots=erosion control.
But I see it's a member of the mint family, and I remember some people on this board warning against using mint. Anyone have negative experiences with Ajuga? If not, next week I'm planting it on my shady naked hillside.
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