Hi yall! Have not been online in awhile because life went cray cray lately. Anyway, after a lot of hardship, fifi and i are finally getting a house! It's lovely and has a lot of mature trees (learned the hard way i have an oak allergy..). Unfortunately mature trees=lots of shade=bald patches in the yard.

So I've been researching dog safe ground cover and discovered the chocolate mint plant. It's apparently completely dog safe, grows in moderate shade, isn't prone to pests and smells good. It also apparently spreads. I'm concerned it will get out of control and choke out the rest of the foliage and tick off our neighbors. Does anyone have any experience with this plant? Any opinions, advice, suggestions, etc? Also am i crazy or is this the best idea ever?

Thank you!

OMG it spread! Massively it also grows tall.

How ever you might want to research if it can be put in a planter and bury the planter. I will go home and see if the plant is a "runner" ie shoots off roots and then grows up from another spot.
My flower bed is overgrown but it does smell awesome.
I was historically looking for ground cover but failed due to walnut trees screwing up the soils with their leaching. Look into winter creeper...it might have some height to it also though.

Ground cover link

thanks for the info! Haha I'm hesitant because I'm not sure if it would spread too much and kill the actual grass. I told my brother about my idea and he was like "its going to cover your entire yard, look ugly, and the smell will give you migraines." I seldom listen to him, though.

I wonder how deep their roots go. Maybe i could put in some kind of rock barrier? I have no idea what I'm doing, lol!

I will dig a little and take pictures tonight for you. The landscape area needs weeding but you will get an idea.
I have a small plastic edging border that has kept it out of my grass. I will set you up with a plethora of photos so you can get a good idea of how you would be able to handle it.

You're the best!

No problem my mom had it in an area that was next to the porch and if I remember correctly it was not growing into the grass and I do not remember her having a border. It did start to pinch out the asparagus fern, and grew in the middle of the daylilies and the tall ornamental grass.

I purposely weed wack or mow over an inch of mine sometimes just for the smell. That is when you really get a wiff.

mint will take over your life. One day it will be growing beside your porch and the next you will find a mature plant in a forgotten shoe at the back of your closet. Mint blooms and seeds and goes all over. I had some in a pot. Now I have some in a flowerbed 100ft from that pot. All our shady spots around our house are planted with clover.

I was always told to put mint in a pot as it will take over everything! mine is in a pot but i have never had it reseed to other areas.

is there are reason you can't reseed with a shade loving grass grass?

Jenn: Haha oh gosh 100 feet? Maybe I should reconsider this idea!

Jennifer: There isn't anything that would prevent the grass grass, but I smelled a mint plant and fell in love Unfortunately, my brother (big gardener) said not to, which of course made me more determined to do it! Discretion may be the better part of valor on this one, though, haha.

Okay pictures but yeah if grass will grow than plant some mint in containers.

My foot next to it. You see how it gets invasive

Root of plant

Creeping in the hosta

Hiding behind the bushes

Up close

a full pulled out plant

Oh that is a size 8.5 for reference

This is the close up of it trying to broach past the plastic barrier and get into the grass.

Oh my gosh! Thanks for the pictures, Colleen! It's super pretty, but look at them roots, lol! I think it is trying to escape. Hmm yeah I think putting it in containers is definitely my best bet.