Preplanning for Adding Ground cover...need opinions

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

I am looking around for the best things to easily add ground cover to my expanded HO layout. The construction and wiring are done. The final few feet of track are going down this weekend.

The layout theme is industrial (petroleum tanks and refinery, fabricating, warehousing etc.) and I hoped to model some semi-arid areas where the structures merge with nature.

I say this because, of the few layouts I have ever seen, the arid, stoney modelled areas look much more realistic than anything attempting to match green ground cover and forest. The use of bushes and weeds seems more realistic than any modeled trees I have seen. However, this is my first try at scenery and I stand to be corrected. Any input as to what looks most realistic is welcome.

Therefore I am about to order a few packages of talus and stones, grey mix ballast, and some Woodland Scenics Readygrass mat in the driest, yellowest looking shade I can get.

I have onhand a few bags of bushes and several dozen fall shade conifer that I may be able to “prune” look like ponderosa pine if I wish.

JUST NOTICED THE RECENT POST WITH THE SAME QUESTION ABOUT WS GRASS MAT (I don’t always have time to look at a lot of posts before asking for help) The vote seems to be 1 for the mat and one against. I will keep this part of my question, however, and appreciate any responses…Are the edges too obvious or hard to disguise if it is layed out a piece here and there between the roadbed.

Should I just use my modeled rocks and gravel and use loose ground foliage instead?

2

I used to use thinned out light to medium brown paint for my base, followed by an assortment of terrain products.

Now I use Rustoleum Stone spray paint for the base. It comes in several colors including brown, grey, and black. I use many Woodland Scenics products, like tallus, and blended turf, but I also improvise. Very small landscaping stones look very realistic. Craft stores also have small stones for use in flower arranging that make very good looking bolders. Small sticks from your yard make great deadfall, and the small tips of some evergreen shrubs and trees can be used to make very realistic trees.

I use the Black Rustoleum Stone paint for the tunnel walls in my subway.

Lesson here? Think outside the box. Just look around at the real world and see what it REALLY looks like. Plants are not dark green monocolor. Rocks are not grey. Dirt is not even brown. Even grass contains many different shades. Don’t try to be perfect. Nature is not perfect, and nature does not have any straight lines.