Groundcovers, Part II

My last article covered creating new areas for ground-covering plants, to reduce yard maintenance and to make your bit of the earth more visually interesting. You’ve chosen the shape, killed off the weeds and are now faced with the daunting decision as to which plant to use.

There are thousands of plants available for this project, from the tiniest thymes to the sturdy junipers. Which one to choose depends on your conditions and your goals. Is your site sunny or shady? Is it moist, or does the soil bake rock hard? Do you have a large area you want to cover quickly, or are you filling in around the feet of other plants? Taking the time now to choose the right plant will avoid endless trouble in the years to come. Become aware of what grows well in similar conditions in other gardens. Look through books, catalogs and magazines, and begin a list of plants to consider. If you simply can’t decide between two or three choices, plant small patches of each to see which is most satisfying. When you decide which you like best, replace the trial plants with the chosen variety.

Beware of over-aggressive plants. In catalogs, they will be described as plants that will grow where nothing else will. If you are faced with an area where nothing else will grow, they may be your answer, but putting the same plant into better conditions may be creating a monster. And some plants simply have no business in anyone’s garden. My favorite plant to hate is bishop’s weed or gout weed. It’s a very pretty variegated green and white leaf that is easily available from catalogs. Trouble is, once it settles into your garden it is absolutely impossible to control. It will invade your other garden plants, making even herbicide useless. Worse, it flowers, sending seed far and wide. The seedlings will often be the even harder to control than the solid green version. Tossing the discarded plants into the compost is a sure way to spread it even farther. Toss discards over the bank, and your bank will be covered in no time with thriving plants. It is beyond me why it is still available for sale.

So you’ve decided on the perfect plant. How far apart you plant them, and so how many you’ll need, depends on the plants mature size and how quickly you want it to fill in. Junipers are usually purchased in one-gallon containers and planted 3 feet apart, while myrtle can be purchased either bare root or in flats (or can be begged from a neighbor) and is usually planted about four to six inches apart. Planted father apart, it will still fill in–it will just take longer. Mulch the area first when planting small plants, moving the mulch aside to plant, then tucking the mulch back around the plant before moving to the next hole. This will save hours later, trying to spread mulch around each plant while trying not to bury some and step on others. Large plants can be mulched after planting. It is not my habit to use weed barrier fabric under the mulch. Having killed all the perennial weed roots with herbicide and laying down a generous layer of mulch, I don’t think it’s necessary. If a weed does establish itself, rooting down through the barrier, it’s more difficult to remove than if you just had to dig it out from the mulch.

Water, water, water, weed, weed, weed. That’s your job for the rest of the summer. By next year, watering will only rarely be necessary, but keep up with the weeds until the groundcover fills in. After that, it should need only occasional attention, and you can relax on your favorite lawn chair. (Grass is good for some things).