PERENNIAL GROUNDCOVERS
Virginia Bluebells
PERENNIAL GROUNDCOVERS
Low-growing, ground-hugging perennial plants are the best low-maintenance ground coverings. Groundcovers bring color, textural interest, plant food/shelter for insects and a great replacement for mulch. They can even be an alternative to lawns. Native groundcovers require no fertilizer and only supplemental watering. There are evergreen groundcovers that cover throughout the winter and help with erosion control. Some groundcovers thrive under canopy of shade others do well in full sun.
SWEET WOODRUFF (Galium odoratum): Sweet Woodruff is a lovely plant that will spread like a groundcover in your garden. It has small white flowers in spring through early summer. It’s vigorous but not aggressive and can coexist nicely with bulbs that will come right up through it. They spread stoloniferously by sending out stolons or side shoots just beneath the soil surface. An ideal ground cover around shrubs and/or as a border accent in woodland gardens. It thrives in rich garden soil, in part to full shade.
PACHYSANDRA: We carry the Japanese spurge, pachysandra terminalis. Our favorite is the native one, Pachysandra procumbens. Pachysandra is considered an evergreen groundcover.
VINCA: We carry Vinca minor Bowles, with the early summer blooming blue flowers and the white flowering Vinca minor. We also carry Illumination, a vinca cultivar with yellow variegated foliage and a blue flower.
EPIMEDIUM, BARRENWORT: A less common groundcover that thrives in shade is Epimedium. Epimedium Spine Tingler is a cultivar that is available now. This year we also have Frohnleiten, Rubrum, Sulphureum, Niveum, Pink Champagne, Domino and Amber Queen, which won the RHA (Royal Horticultural Award) of Merit.
FERNS: Ferns can spread nicely like ground covers such as Matteuca struthiopteris (the Ostrich fern), Dennstaedtia punctiloba (Hay Scented Fern) and Onoclea sensibilis. Dennstaedtia punctiloba and Onoclea sensibilis are both hard to find. We don’t have either in stock right now.
GEUM: The native Geum is a good ground cover. Geum triflorum has beautiful seed pods.
THYME: Creeping and wooly thymes are ground covers we like to recommend for sun. Creeping thyme comes in white flowers (albiflorus), red flowers (coccineus) or pink chintz with pink flowers. We also carry creeping lemon and Elfin thyme.
LAURENTIA fluviatilis ‘BLUE STAR CREEPER’ and PRATIA: Two other interesting plants that spread like ground covers.
Gingers bloom in early spring. The flowers are hidden beneath the foliage, rarely seen and are pollinated by ants! They are grown for their foliage which spreads and in certain species is evergreen, like the europeum.
GINGERS (Asarum)
EUROPEAN GINGER (Asarum europeum): a spreading perennial ground cover with shiny rounded leaves.
ARROW LEAF GINGER (Asarum arifolium) has a more pointed leaf shape and some nice white markings on the leaf.
CANDADIAN GINGER (Asarum canadense) is our native ginger. It has a large rounded leaf. It is not shiny or evergreen like the European ginger but it’s very pretty and spreads. You can plant it in combination with small bulbs that will come right through the ginger. They combine nicely with ferns.
In my opinion there isn’t a prettier flower than a Blue Bell. They spread and form large clumps with beautiful blue flowers in spring. They don’t bloom all summer so it’s a good idea to plant in combination with a later emerging and blooming perennial. The later blooming perennial will fill in the space nicely when the Virginia Blue Bells are past their bloom and dormant until the following spring.
MERTENSIA virginica ‘VIRGINIA BLUEBELLS’: They do best with a little afternoon shade.
Try planting ground covers at the base of your shrubs instead of mulching. Ground covers are very effective at keeping weeds out!
Virginia Bluebells
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SUCCESSION GARDENING
Succession Gardening is a new concept in groundcovers where one plant replaces another one that is gone by in the same area. These ‘groundcovers’ may not spread stoloniferously but they will cover the ground where another plant has passed.
Alchemilla, Perennial Geraniums, Hostas, Euphorbia, Lupine, Rodgersia, Cimicifuga, Aruncus, ornamental rhubarb (Rheum), Bronze Fennel, (Foeniculum vulgare), Sanguisorba , Aconitum, Foxgloves and Thalictrum, can all be used as plants that emerge late and will cover up earlier blooming plants. They will grow up, over and fill in the space when early bloomers and cool weather annuals finish blooming and go dormant, like Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)or Bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis).
Enjoy the bulbs in spring and then cover up their foliage with Ladies Mantle(Alchemilla mollis) or Geranium sanguineum album.
Hostas are late to emerge and are also often planted in areas where you have early bloomers that don’t last all summer, like Trilliums, Shooting Stars(Dodecatheons) or bulbs like Crocus or Chionodoxa.
It may take larger plants such as Thalictrum to cover up larger bulb foliage like daffodils or Fall crocus (Colchicum). Even Cammasia foliage can be hidden away after it’s done blooming! The Thalictrum will come right through the messy bulb foliage and cover it right up. You don’t even have to cut it back.