I have chocolate chip and burgundy glow next to the woods beneath pines and dogwoods. They get covered up with pine needles and grow right thru them. There is very little sun except early in the morning and it's really dry. I've tried them along the roadway but it's a dirt/gravel road and they didn't make it however,I think I had them too close. Good luck with these new plants.

Nancy

Nancy...thanks for sharing what is working for you. Maybe it is the dryness where yours are that is different. I have about four places to put these, so I might try them in all of them and see which area does best. Thanks a lot!

:-)
pm2

I have Burgundy Glow, two years now. It gets almost complete shade (just a bit of moving light over lathe), and grows in well amended clay that has moisture moving through it most of the time. It is only about a foot from the base of the sloped bed, and I mulch that bed heavily with pinestraw.

I have read that this variety is not as aggressive, which is why I chose it, and that it sometimes does disappear for no reason. Mine is thriving and slowly increasing so far.

Some possibilities: Maybe your winters are too cold? Maybe your summers aren't hot enough? Maybe it's the plant and not you. That would be my pick. :)

Even though I'm in zone 7, have clay and a soil that retains water fairly well, 'Burgundy Glow' has done fairly poorly for me too, if this is consolation for you,pm2!
Black Scallop didn't make it very long either...no explanation so far!
On the contrary, I have very good experience with Ajuga 'Black Stallion'! Growing very well, dense and lovely, expanding, yes, but never out of control.
Following a suggestion I had found in another forum, I underplanted some Colchicum 'Waterlily' through it (the idea was that the ajuga would maintain the heeavy heads of the Colchicum, and it works!), and some Muscari 'Valerie Finnis' for spring, and it has been a treat during the last two years...
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Zeph

I tried Burgundy Glow about three or four times and finally gave up on it. It just would not grow and thrive for me. Granted, I didn't try it in any other spots, because I really wanted it in this one particular area - bright, dry shade under some large oaks. It just would not take off. After all the warnings I had heard about ajuga in general, I was surprised - and disappointed, as I think Burgundy Glow is very pretty.

:)
Dee

I also planted the Chocolate Chip last year Spring of 2007, three plants; and all disappeared until this spring. I bought it for it's blue blooms, but decided it was the wrong shade of blue for that part of the garden so wasn't heartbroken that it died. Except for the money I spent. A tiny piece of one plant appeared and now it is a beautiful clump that spread itself out very quickly over the summer. It is in packed soil at the base of a service berry shrub surrounded by a mini stone courtyard. I've ignored it pretty much and never water it, so it must have sufficient moisture there.

Donna...thank you for blaming the plant instead of me. [g] That would be my pick too. :-)

I planted that Burgundy Glow in containers back at the beginning of Sept and tried to limit the watering to only when I saw the soil dry out, which has only been a couple of times. It hasn't really been doing great. We have had six inches of rain last week again too. The one I have in the ground is about 1/4 of the size it was when planted last year.

zephirine.....the only consolation your lack of success with Burgundy Glow is to me, is to confirm that maybe it is the plant and not us! :-) I'll look for the 'Black Stallion' ...your photos are SO pretty, thanks for sharing!

I am still perplexed though, how the potted Burgundy Glow that I bought back in August, were so healthy looking and vigorous looking. So the growers that are selling them, seem to be able to keep them going, so what is the difference? I mean, I put mine in a larger container with other ajugas etc. when I got it home, so it basically is still in potting soil with great drainage and the amount of water they are getting can't be that off one way or the other and the sun exposure is 2-3 hrs of 'fall' sunlight, so how can that be wrong? The only thing I can conclude is that it has to be a 'finicky' plant.

I am trying to decide whether to leave them in a container all winter or plant them into the ground. They would have the best drainage in the pots, I think but not sure they are hardy enough for a container all winter. I have three individual plants of BG and two of Chocolate Chip, so I could try them in different locations to see if they do better in one over another I suppose. Same soil everywhere, but different amts of moisture/sun/drainage.

Dee.....Well...if they don't grow from the efforts I am making, then they aren't the plant for me. Too bad if they won't, I can't think of a prettier foliaged plant.

schoolhouse.....very interesting about how it came back for you after disappearing.

I will keep my fingers crossed for next spring, that they will still be here.

I've tried it several times and they were a strong grower for me and all eventually reverted from the variegated form to dark green/purplish.

Oh, how sad! I am getting quite disillusioned with 'new introductions' etc. I wonder if they just don't spend enough time evaluating these plants before selling them to the public.

Tried Burgundy a few years ago and it disappeared. Then it showed up in the lawn... It was planted atop a rock wall about 10 feet from the area it has settled in. Told DH not to take it out as I'm going to move the 1.5 foot mass into a shade garden and see how it works.

My burgundy ajuga planted under my apple tree last year did not return this spring. Got some more from a fall swap and wondering where to plant it. I like the idea of underplanting with muscari.

I have never been able to overwinter any of the variegated ajugas or Crispa even if they do well the summer before.

I think that a lot of Ajugas are iffy in the north. Over the years I have tried a number of pretty variegated ones with little success. I've never had the problem of them fading away in the warm weather that the OP mentions, but they often don't return, or only a few return out of a patch of them. The returnees are weak and may fade away, but sometimes they do well and refill the area.

Currently I have a really glorious patch of Burgandy Glows that have actually stayed around for four or five years. They grow on the east side of my house in a 2 ft wide bed that is between the house wall and a concrete walkway. They seem to thrive right at the outside edge of the bed, out from under the eaves, but right next to and lapping over the walkway. At one point about eight or nine years ago they stretched out to about 9 ft long from the original 5 plants. Then one winter they all died off except for one plant, tucked away on the knobby rootball area of a Cinnamon fern. I added a few more "sale" plants back into the area and they have turned into the current patch of which I first spoke, which has lasted four or five seasons, but currently stretches only about five feet long and a mix of one to three plants deep, in and out between ferns, lungwort, heuchera, brunnera, solomon's seals etc.

My guess is it is not as much the cold that kills them off, but winter wet. The year the 9 ft long patch died off was relatively mild for us, with late autumn freezing rains, not much snow cover, then a very cold late winter and spring. BTW, we do not snowblow this walkway, so the area may (or may not) stay under snowcover for weeks.