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Suggestion for Drought Tolerant Flowering Ground Cover

12 years ago

I've got a long strip of ground between the outside of my fence and the sidewalk about 8 inches wide. The soil has a fair amount of clay, but it's not unworkable. As far as light, it will get a good amount of hot sun (it faces SW) with some dappled shade in the afternoon once the sun moves behind the tree on the outer edge of the sidewalk.

I'm looking for something to replace the current assortment of weeds that will be pretty but won't need much care. We're having a very dry spring and beyond getting something established, I don't want to have to water it.

Any color flower (except pink) though I'd prefer something red or yellow, and it can be low to the ground up to medium height.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

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Comments (7)

mistascott
12 years ago
Here are a few to consider:

-Lithodora doesn't need a ton of water once establised, but the flowers are blue or blue/white.
-Potentilla has yellow flowers and requires little water.
-Baby's breath might work in white.
-Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum) has yellow flowers.
-Thread leaf coreopsis has yellow flowers and
makes a nice groundcover. Coreopsis nana has orange/yellow flowers.
- Ice plant is marginally hardy in the mid-Atlantic, but has yellow flowering varieties.
-Lysiachia nummularia has yellow flowers.

I can't think of any red flowering groundcovers offhand.

I hope this gives you some ideas!
flora_uk
12 years ago
Helianthemums - yellow, white, orange, pink and red available.

Several low growing hardy geranium species.

Aubretia, Iberis sempervirens, Aurinium saxatile, Saponaria ocymoides, Anthemis punctata subsp. cupaniana, Anthemis tinctoria, Dianthus, Festuca glauca (a grass), dwarf bearded iris - all classic tough full sun low growers.

Tough hardy herbs like the various thymes, Oregano and different coloured Salvia officinalis. Lavender.

BTW - Lysimachia nummularis needs moisture. It's a bog plant in its natural habitat.

To start you off this season you could scatter Nasturtium, Limnanthes, Eschscholzia and other sun loving annual seed until your perennials fill out.
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Hi Michiele, Landscaping around a pool that is in full sun, or at least in lots and lots of sun, can be very challenging. Often the heat that reflects from the pool and the pool deck are very hard on plants. When you are landscaping near a pool area, I think grass is always best because it can take the most abuse, from being walked on, having beach balls bounce through it, etc. To keep weeds to a minimum, put down a good quality woven landscape fabric, plant your grasses and add some mulch. When choosing a mulch, it is often better to use some sort of stone like river rock or lava rock because bark mulches tend to blow into the pool. Interplanting a taller ground cover like ornamental grass with a shorter ground cover can be difficult. Creeping ground covers like Asian Jasmine or Boston Ivy may tend to 'climb' up the clumps of grass. If you have a taller ornamental grass, then a shorter ground cover may get too shaded by the taller grasses and not fill in as well as you would like. You might try ice plant or creeping sedum. They also are creepers more than vining climbers so they would be easier to maintain. Both are very tough and can handle the reflected heat from the pool's concrete or stone surround. If you are going to have a taller form of ornamental grass, you could use ornamental blue fescue, fiber optic grass or blue-eyed grass as the shorter plant to fill in around the larger ones. It can be hard to combine ornamental grasses with shorter ground covers underneath them because the shorter plants can be overwhelmed by the larger grasses. A mixed planting of ornamental grasses, creeping groundcovers and dwarf shrubs can be used quite effectively if the plants are in scale with one another. You might go to the website for High Country Gardens (I think it is www.highcountrygardens.com) and look at their ground covers. They have a lot of uncommon plants that are suited to tough conditions. Good luck, Dawn
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mistascott
12 years ago
Here are a few to consider:

-Lithodora doesn't need a ton of water once establised, but the flowers are blue or blue/white.
-Potentilla has yellow flowers and requires little water.
-Baby's breath might work in white.
-Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum) has yellow flowers.
-Thread leaf coreopsis has yellow flowers and
makes a nice groundcover. Coreopsis nana has orange/yellow flowers.
- Ice plant is marginally hardy in the mid-Atlantic, but has yellow flowering varieties.
-Lysiachia nummularia has yellow flowers.

I can't think of any red flowering groundcovers offhand.

I hope this gives you some ideas!
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
12 years ago
Just a thought - what is on the other side of your fence? By their nature, ground covers spread, and a fence won't stop that. You might want to put in an edging just to one side or the other of the fence if you want your groundcover to stay where you put it.

Sedums like it sunny, hot and well-drained. I can't think of any red-flowered ones, though there are hot pink, like dragons' blood sedum, which has reddish foliage. Sedum acre has yellow flowers and will readily root from broken stems. Sedum 'Angelina' has yellow foliage (and in cool weather adds orange tints.) I imagine you can find other red or yellow foliaged or yellow flowered sedums with a search.
mistascott
12 years ago
On the Lysimachia -- I have seen it growing well through our tough humid dry summers here (mid-Atlantic) without much issue or supplemental water provided it gets afternoon shade (in fact it loves to spread rapidly). The problem for you may be that the flowers are not the main attraction and they are only temporary (not ever blooming).

I second the geraniums -- I love Rozeanne (brilliant purple).
alexisls
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for all the great suggestions!!! I didn't think I'd have this many choices, so I'll put in a mix of plants with clusters of taller varieties surrounded by lower ones.

I hadn't thought about them spreading under the fence, but that could actually be a happy accident since I'm going for a lush cottage garden look (though it's going to take a few years to actually get there). There are deep flower beds on the inside of the fence, but since it's 4-5 feet tall, its shadier than the sidewalk side.
paulsiu
12 years ago
How about creeping thyme, which is suppose to be drough tolerant and have pinkish to red flowers.

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