Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

rate this answer

Not Yet Rated

Wednesday - July 22, 2015

From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Groundcovers, Shade Tolerant, Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Lawn for a Shady & Wet area in Austin, TX
Answered by: Larry Larson

QUESTION:

We have a drainage area that has appeared in our back yard since the neighbors� homes were built. When we get heavy rains (like this year) all their drainage flows into our back yard and forms a river of sorts. We planted a full pallet of sod to match what had been there and it has "drowned" leaving us out $150 and a day's work. :( The area is both pretty shady and when it rains it gets super wet. If we wait until fall should we plant shady grass seed? Put some tent over it due to many deer and birds? Use the green rollout seed/carpet? Get a variety of sod that the supplier recommends for shade? Just confused and can't have all this mud dirt so near to our patio (we have 1 1/2 acres and leave most wild but this is next to the house). Thanks!!

ANSWER:

Breath deep – never fear, the Austin weather has interposed and I assume the last dry month has made your situation better. Nevertheless, you want to plant the area with plants that will deal well with the shade and occaisionally getting soaked. You are right about waiting towards fall; Planting in the heat of summer is self-defeating. Not too late though, as you want your groundcover established before winter!

I always try to review what has come down on Mr Smarty Plants before, I found the following when searching the MSP archives for Austin groundcovers for shady application:
Compatibility of mixed ground covers with St. Agustine grass
Strip Groundcover for Austin, TX
Shade grasses for central Texas
Native lawn replacement for shady areas in Austin
Sunny and shady lawns from Austin
Grass for shady area

There’s plenty more, but that’s probably enough.

You didn’t specify how much shade you had, notice that there is a difference in recommendations between full shade [< 2 hrs sun], partial shade [2-6 hours of sun] and "sun" is more exposure. Some grasses can deal with partial shade, but for full shade, most of the time sedges and groundcovers are recommended.

In reading those recommendations, I looked for plants that deal well with shade and partial shade and might have wet feet for a while – These look like good possibilities:

Sedges: Carex blanda (Eastern woodland sedge), Carex texensis (Texas sedge),

Groundcovers: Calyptocarpus vialis (Straggler daisy), Phyla nodiflora (Texas frogfruit), Salvia lyrata (Lyreleaf sage), Geum canadense (White avens)

If you read the different discussions and also the plant records, you may be able to try some other plants that accept dry soil and/or more sun.