Grass/ground cover under & around spruce trees - Ask Extension
Hi! We recently moved into a home with two large spruce trees that shade nearly the entire back yard. When we moved in, there was no grass in the yard...
Knowledgebase
Grass/ground cover under & around spruce trees #893603
Asked March 04, 2025, 2:40 PM EST
Hi! We recently moved into a home with two large spruce trees that shade nearly the entire back yard. When we moved in, there was no grass in the yard and only hearty weeds were scattered around the soil. Is there a type of grass that is best to grow under spruce trees and with mostly shade? If not grass, is there a different ground cover that could be used? We weeded and raked the yard well in the fall. After just a few months, the entire yard is already covered with spruce needles that were blown down during wind storms. Since there is no ground cover, the yard has been a mud pit this winter, which we would like to prevent in the future.
Larimer County Colorado
Expert Response
Hi Emma,
It's going to be tough to grow much of anything with the spruce - first, they tend to be shallow-rooted and because they are large, will use any water available (they are just more competitive). Second, the shade will be a challenge for grass. And third, getting plants established may be difficult (with roots).
If you want to try grass, the most shade tolerant are the fine fescues (Chewings, creeping red, hard), but they would need a minimum of six hours of sun per day (morning sun preferred). If you decide to do this, you can aerate the area or poke holes and seed into the holes. You'll need to provide regular irrigation to get the grass established (depending on the time of year, perhaps 2-4x daily for just a few minutes). If you buy fine fescue seed, purchase through a seed dealer (Pawnee Buttes and Sharp Brothers are both in Greeley) and use a seeding rate of 4-6 pounds/1000 square feet. It may take a few seedings to get things established - and then reseeded as needed if the grass starts to decline from shade or drought.
As for groundcovers, it will be similar to grasses, but you'll be using plugs. A few shade (and drought) tolerant groundcovers include: Brunnera, bugleweed, lamium, hardy plumbago, pachysandra, snow-on-the-mountain, sweet woodruff, and vinca.
You don't mention if you have dogs or kids using the area for play, so you may want to do additional research to ensure that whatever you plant can tolerate foot traffic.
To be honest, one of the easiest things to consider, though not green, would be to use wood mulch. Let the needles fall naturally (they will benefit the soil) and apply a thick layer of wood mulch, 3-5 inches deep. This will help with water conservation, improve soils, and reduce weed pressure.
Also, if you want to keep the spruce (assuming you do!), make sure you are watering these on a regular basis. Spruce are not drought tolerant and can suffer when they have fluctuating soil moisture levels. It's especially important to water in fall and winter (at least once per month). Then increase to twice per month in the summer. Using a hose and sprinkler is probably easiest.
It's going to be tough to grow much of anything with the spruce - first, they tend to be shallow-rooted and because they are large, will use any water available (they are just more competitive). Second, the shade will be a challenge for grass. And third, getting plants established may be difficult (with roots).
If you want to try grass, the most shade tolerant are the fine fescues (Chewings, creeping red, hard), but they would need a minimum of six hours of sun per day (morning sun preferred). If you decide to do this, you can aerate the area or poke holes and seed into the holes. You'll need to provide regular irrigation to get the grass established (depending on the time of year, perhaps 2-4x daily for just a few minutes). If you buy fine fescue seed, purchase through a seed dealer (Pawnee Buttes and Sharp Brothers are both in Greeley) and use a seeding rate of 4-6 pounds/1000 square feet. It may take a few seedings to get things established - and then reseeded as needed if the grass starts to decline from shade or drought.
As for groundcovers, it will be similar to grasses, but you'll be using plugs. A few shade (and drought) tolerant groundcovers include: Brunnera, bugleweed, lamium, hardy plumbago, pachysandra, snow-on-the-mountain, sweet woodruff, and vinca.
You don't mention if you have dogs or kids using the area for play, so you may want to do additional research to ensure that whatever you plant can tolerate foot traffic.
To be honest, one of the easiest things to consider, though not green, would be to use wood mulch. Let the needles fall naturally (they will benefit the soil) and apply a thick layer of wood mulch, 3-5 inches deep. This will help with water conservation, improve soils, and reduce weed pressure.
Also, if you want to keep the spruce (assuming you do!), make sure you are watering these on a regular basis. Spruce are not drought tolerant and can suffer when they have fluctuating soil moisture levels. It's especially important to water in fall and winter (at least once per month). Then increase to twice per month in the summer. Using a hose and sprinkler is probably easiest.
