Jun 19 2007
A Guide to Ground Cover Plants
There are many advantages to using ground cover plants, and so when you are considering replacement of your lawn with other plants, you want to be sure that you properly assess all the needs of your family and pets that use the yard. Once you have taken into consideration how your yard is used, you will be able to decide on whether ground cover plants would be your best choice or not.
The Different Types of Ground Cover Plants
Bugleweed is a ground cover plant, one which is fast-spreading and which requires sun to light shade in order to strive. It will typically grow about 10 cm high, and will develop flower spikes which will actually grow to be about 20 cm tall in late spring. The leaves are beautiful as well, shiny rosettes which are either bronze-colored or variegated, and which grow from a horizontal stem.
The creeping thyme is another of the more popular ground cover plants, and this is considered as being a great choice of ground cover for full sun, loose, well-drained soil. There are many cultivars available to choose from here, and it is a plant which tends to die out during the winter and can be used as ground cover or as rock garden plant or even in between stepping stones in a walkway.
The creeping juniper is another of the beautiful and resourceful ground cover plants, and although the juniper grows slowly, at the same time it is excellent for covering rocky slopes. It requires full sun, well-drained soil and most of all good air circulation.
Another option is the clover, which is an early summer blooming, low broadleaf plant. It does not need any mowing, and it is a plant which has deep roots so it is very drought tolerant. The leaves of the clover tend to die with frost leaving the soil exposed in the early spring and fall, and it is for this reason that the clover plant cannot be grown alone for erosion control.
Ground cover plants can be incredibly helpful in landscaping, particularly over large scale areas, and so when you are planning out a landscape you want to make sure that you fill the low-traffic areas with these plants if possible, in order to use up the space in the most resourceful and aesthetically appealing way. You can choose from any of the ones that are listed here, or there are plenty of other options as well.
Just make sure that you take the time to do your research and learn about the plants you are interested in before planting them so that you can have the best possible results with your gardening.
Related posts:
- A Guide to Blueberry Plants
- A Guide to Orchid Plants
- Choosing The Perfect Shade Gardening Plants
- Fertile Ground: Five Optimal Soil Conditions for Roses
- A Guide to Spring Gardening
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I am interested in a ground cover plant for hot dry areas of the Southwest, to put as a border around our backyard little lawn and our front yard gravel.
However, we would like a ground cover that is not poisonous for dogs, is not too invasive, and that has pretty flowers.
Many thanks for any suggestions.
I’m looking for a particular ground cover I’ve seen for the first time in
the Bay Area this year in multiple gardens on two garden tours recently.
It is dark green, no more than 3 inches tall, seems to me to be individual
clumps that have spiky leaves coming up from one center and resemble
the tops of palm trees. When looking straight down it is as if the viewer is
in an airplane looking down on a grove of palm trees or pineapple tree tops.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Judy