Dichondra is a lovely garden plant and ground cover which remains under utilised in Australian gardens. Having a great beauty all of its own this little wonder can be used in many different ways to complement both our gardens and our lawns.
Often called Kidney Weed due to its kidney shaped leaves, Dichondra Repens is a small, yet hardy, and highly beautiful little ground cover, with low aggressiveness, that grows low to the ground, and has an abundance of little white flowers.
Companion Planting Dichondra With Lawns
Oftentimes, and more often in older homes with cottage type gardens we will find Dichondra is grown alongside lawns together. Most usually this occurs as the lawn in encroaching into shaded areas whereby the lawn then dies out. The Dichondra however does tolerate some lightly shaded areas and will grow in that same lawn area where it’s lightly shaded, right next to the lawn. And where the shade and sun border each other, there too will the lawn and the Dichondra Repens also begin knitting themselves together.
The more into the sun, the more the lawn takes over completely as the Dichondra plant is entirely incapable of competing against the aggressiveness and strength of a lawn grass. Likewise, the more into the lightly shaded area, so too does the Dichondra also flourish and take over completely as the lawn is just too weak to grow into lightly shaded areas.
This is particularly true for shade intolerant lawn types like Couch and Kikuyu, and to a lesser extent Zoysia which has a slightly higher shade tolerance. Buffalo however is very shade tolerant and will grow into the same partly shaded areas where the Dichondra will also grow.
This companion planting leaves our lawn area entirely intact and undisturbed, with no bare patches of soil to be seen anywhere, whereas we may have had big ugly bare patches in the turf in the areas where there is greatest shade, and we all know that weeds just love big bare patches of soil in which to establish themselves.
Especially for the cottage type of garden, this blending of both lawns and ground covers together can appear very naturally eclectic, with a quite appealing visual appearance which is entirely suited to such garden types.
Dichondra Repens is not a full shade plant, it still does require some direct sunlight each day.
Dichondra Repens As Lawn Substitute
Dichondra can also be planted out in old lawn areas that are no longer wanted and that are no longer used as lawn areas. This provides us with an almost no maintenance ground cover particularly well suited to small cottage garden areas.
While in the example of the lawn and Dichondra growing together, the shade intolerant lawn will often become weak in a shaded area and the Dichondra remains active, Dichondra also loves full sun areas too, just in the case of companion planting the stronger and more vigorous lawn will always outcompete the weaker Dichondra for dominance.
Therefore we could also remove any small unwanted lawn areas, and replace them with Dichondra instead, even in full sun. Where in full sun conditions the Dichondra will become more active and lush and dense, and while growing into a shaded area the plant with thin out a lot more.
Dichondra Repens can also be walked on semi-regularly without too mush hassle at all.
While not entirely suitable to replace all lawn areas, in some cases, particularly in small areas, and in cottage type gardens, we may quite easily replace an old unwanted lawn for a Dichondra ground cover instead, and unlike many other types of ground covers we can walk on this one quite easily every so often.
Is Dichondra suitable for your yard? Only you can determine that, and only your own yard environment where you may be considering planting out Dichondra Repens as a lawn companion or substitute can tell you whether it will be successful. A packet of seeds costs very little for a trial run, so it’s worthwhile considering to trial if we’re interested, and then to let our gardens tell us whether it’s a yea or a nay.
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