grasses and ground covers

[bananahead]

Cool, the ala ala wai nui (peperomia sp.) is related to black pepper and 'awa (kava), the flowers are tiny and are on the spike that forms..... there are many types of endemic peperomia here in upper Puna, if you look at the bottom of the leaf you will see they are either white or red striped or somewhere in between with many shades of red from dark bright stripes to where the stripes have almost disappeared. It seems that when I see the very attractive dark red bottom form its on the wet mossy trees up in the Kulani area of Stainback Hwy.... the lighter slightly red bottom form also lives in the somewhat dry forests like in the top part of Bird Park in HVNP where it covers large areas of the ground next to the trail (images below).

here are a couple pics I took of ilima (my yard) and ala ala wai nui (bright red bottom is from Kulani area), and the lighter red bottom type in HVNP @ Bird Park)
http://centuryoldcards.com/images/ilima.jpg
http://centuryoldcards.com/images/peperomia.jpg
http://centuryoldcards.com/images/peperomiahvnp.jpg


save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha

[bluesboy]

a few more i came across

ground covers - white clover & tropic lalo
grasses - carpetgrass

[YurtGirl]

A lot of ground covers will come in naturally if you continue to weedwhack or mow. We have a gorgeous one that comes in with purple flowers. It climbs and needs cutting back now and then, but it is very easy to pull or cut back and it keeps out the junk stuff. I've heard a lot a out peanut grass, but doesn't that have those seed nodes that stick in your pant hems and socks and shoe laces, etc? No thanks...

Looking fwd to hearing what you figure out/like/dislike!

Melissa Fletcher
___________________________
"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973

[bluesboy]

i think what you are talking about is poor man's patch or hitchhikers, not peanut grass. i got in a patch of them recently near the makai of the dump in kehena and spent a half hour picking them off, for fear they would make it to my yard

i saw some peanut grass planted at my neighbors lot. he purchased it in flats, and planted on a soiled bank on the side of his house, prolly about 50% shade. it had taken hold nicely and was beginning to spread after a couple weeks in the ground. it has yellow flowers.

[Carey]

Bringing this forward, as I am working on a portion of my yard & am looking at low maintenance groundcovers & I found this link...don't know if it is new or I have overlooked it in past searches, but some good native groundcover info with PICTURES & such:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/uhmg/news/V2...tiveGC.pdf