Marianne's Response

When your ground cover turns into a shrub

Hello:

I have a small front yard, so eight years ago I planted Asian Jasmine as ground cover instead of maintaining a small patch of grass.

Over the years the jasmine grew higher until by last fall it was 18 inches high. As my neighbor commented, “Your ground cover has turned into a shrub.”

I used an electric hedge trimmer to bring the jasmine down to six inches. It greened up again pretty quickly, but now there is an infestation of either clover or dollar weed in the jasmine.

What can I apply to get rid of the weeds without harming the jasmine?

Thanks.

Posted by JeffDrummond on March 9, 2015

Marianne's Response

Wow - I love the sounds of your jasmine groundcover and can just imagine how delicious it must smell. Sounds like you did the right thing in giving the growth a spring hair cut but exposing the ground to sunlight can also awaken many new weed seeds as you have seen. Get down and dirty and pull those weeds now before they go to seed. Do this after a heavy rain and they will be easier to uproot. Then cover any bare ground with wood chips to keep airborne weeds from blowing in. Once the jasmine resprouts and shades the soil again your weed problem will slowly fade. Keep growing - but not weeds, Marianne Binetti

    Search the Ask the Gardening Expert library

    Looking for a quick resolution to your problem? Marianne has answered thousands of gardening questions. One may be similar to yours. Try searching our library to get the answer you need — fast!

    My Topics

    View questions you submitted to Marianne in the past

    VIEW MY QUESTIONS