This time of year mowing begins to be a chore. It’s hot, sticky, sometimes dry and dusty, the bugs are out in full force, etc., etc. But there are several simple ways to make mowing the lawn faster and much easier on you, your trees and your mower.

Ground covers around the base of trees make more space mow-free, are attractive and keep the mower away from the trunk of the tree. Planted in a large circle or square they are easy and fast to mow around. Oak trees are especially easy to plant around since they usually have a deep root system and don’t compete with other plants. Some trees, like Maple and Elm have roots that spread outward and make planting and growing more of a challenge.

Ajuga, liriope, lamium, ivy, vinca, epimedium (bishop’s hat), galium odoratum (sweet woodruff) and pachysandra are some low-growing ground covers that spread well, grow in the shade under trees and do not require much maintenance. Just a few of these plants will eventually cover a large area around the tree. Then you can divide the plants and conquer your lawn over time.

You may prefer to make a no-mow ring around trees with mulch instead of plants. You can use weed-control fabric to spread under the mulch. Most grasses and weeds don’t grow well under trees anyway so you probably won’t have much problem with unwanted vegetation even if you don’t use the fabric. Fabric is preferred to plastic though because it lets air and water through to the soil. Use shredded bark, wood chips, compost or even finely shredded oak leaves as mulch.

The very best time to establish ground covers around trees is when they are planted. At this time you will probably be adding compost and some soil to plant the tree and you can build a slightly-raised base for the ground cover plants at the same time. Mulching the area will control weeds and help the new tree and ground cover get established by keeping the soil moist.

You can plant ground covers around older established trees; just be careful about adding more than a few inches of soil around the trees or you may risk smothering the tree’s roots. This can also be avoided by the addition of a more lighter-weight growing medium such as peat or compost. It’s risky indeed to spread plastic and pour 3-4 inches of rock around the base of trees.

To make a large enough circle to guide the mower in gentle curves lay a garden hose around the area you want to plant. This will be a guide for you to use when you spade up the soil around the tree. Making the circle too small and tight will make it harder to mow around. By just going around the edge of the hose with a spade and digging below the grass roots you are making a small ditch which will help guide the mower around the tree. You don’t have to spade up all the grass if you are using weed control fabric and mulch. Even when using compost you can usually smother most of the grass growing around a tree with just a few inches.

You can also use edging material as a raised border to hold the mulch and plants in place and make a guide for the mower. There are advantages and disadvantages to edgings. If you use brick, you can bury it to ground level to make a mowing ring and the grass will not grow into the ground cover area; however the ground cover may grow over the brick requiring some trimming. If you use wood, you are limited to making square areas, cutting the timber or making much larger areas of ground cover. Vinyl edging material is difficult to work with and make attractive. Most edging/border materials will require almost as much maintenance as re-spading the border and trimming the ground cover once or twice a season to keep it neat.

If you trim your older tree’s branches high, you may be able to grow a larger variety of ground covers that require partial sun. Be sure to select a ground cover that is drought tolerant because it will be competing with the tree as well as hot summer sun for water.

Phlox subulata (creeping phlox), hypericum (creeping St. John’s wort), iberis (candytuft), oenothera, sedum, thyme and verbena are low-growing ground covers that do not require as much water and can use extra sun.