The Pollinator-Friendly Ground Cover That Grows Beautifully In Shady Lawns

When the sun is shining, there's a lot of fun things to do and explore in the world. However, you should be seeking out shade during your outings to combat the threats of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Many plants often can't live long without water, and need to similarly balance their time in the heat to avoid losing all of their moisture. However, different flora grows best in particular lighting conditions: full sun (six or more hours of noncontiguous direct sunlight), partial sun (between four and six hours), partial shade (between two and four hours), or shade (less than two hours). 

If you want to attract butterflies or pollinators like bees to your garden, but your lawn only gets some sunlight, a ground cover like bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) may be exactly what you're looking for. Also commonly referred to as creeping dogwood, bunchberry is a low-maintenance, perennial flowering shrub that grows best in USDA hardiness zones 2 through 6. The plant is native to Greenland, the northern U.S. and Canada, as well as northeast Asia — though in North America, it's often spotted in forested areas north of the Appalachian mountains. 

Ground covers are, broadly speaking, a great alternative to grassy lawns when dealing with shaded areas given that they protect the soil from erosion and crowd out any weeds. Bunchberry in particular stands out for its edible berries that can be harvested in the summer and fall. With a garden bolstered by bunchberry shrubs, you'll get just as much to use from your lawn as the pollinators you're attracting.

While ground covers are easier to maintain than other plants that require constant care, you'll have to guide them through the more difficult growing stages with proper irrigation, fertilizing, mulching, and weeding — not to mention the fact that you should tread lightly around these aesthetically pleasant, but delicate features. Bunchberry likes more acidic soil that's high in organic matter and stays moist. Luckily for you, shady areas retain moisture longer, even if this means you might be waiting for your best bunchberry growing spots to thaw after a freezing winter.

If you're going to be starting your bunchberry cover from seeds, plant them about ¾ of an inch deep in the fall. However, if you're working off of cuttings, plant them in a medium that's equal parts sand and peat, and then bury the mixture around July or August. Peat moss or pine needles make for great bunchberry mulch, but even under the most ideal conditions you should expect very slow growth (there's a reason it's called "creeping" dogwood) in your new ground cover. In fact, you may not see any flowers growing for your pollinators until three years after propagation, so this is a long-term investment, unlike with grass.

Don't let that long growth cycle turn you away from the idea of filling your shady lawn with some bunchberry. When the shrubs do flower, they come in white, yellow, green, or brown, providing you and the local pollinators with a nice change of pace in areas you might otherwise associate with generic underbrush. Your shady yard will thank you.