Ground Cover

Ground cover can often lend a new dimension to the garden, giving patches of colour when shrubs have ceased to flower – they are usually low growing plants which help to smother annual weeds.

I use some of the dwarf periwinkles (Vinca), some with white flowers, some with blue. There are quite a number of varieties, both single and double, with a wide spectrum of colour, from white to purple.

I have also two varieties, one with silver variegation and one with gold. They all have shiny evergreen leaves which enhance the foliage of shrubs.

Another useful plant is Pachysandra terminalis. It has white flowers which are insignificant but the small, evergreen leaves are of an attractive shape and a good weed suppressant.

The Erigerons, with daisy-like flowers in pink and mauve, bloom all summer if deadheaded now and again. The variety given to me as Erigeron ‘Four Winds’ but I believe it to be Erigeron speciosis (pictured above right).

I also use another of the species Erigeron mucronatus ‘Profusion’ (pictured left) with smaller daisy-like flowers in multicolours. This will also bloom until the first frost.

These plants cover large areas quite quickly but can easily be contained if they grow over their allotted space.