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California Gardening

Ground cover with pretty flowers

14 years ago

Hello, I'm a new homeowner, and new to planting flowers. I have a section of my home that does not have a sprinkler system hooked up, so anything grown there will be hand-watered. I'm looking for ground cover that will be no more than 8 inches high, has pretty flowers and can handle sun and partial shade in the later afternoon.

Any ideas? I was looking at gazanias, but I'm getting conflicting opinions on whether they'd grow well in my backyard or not.

Thanks!

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Comments (15)

gobluedjm 9/18 CA
14 years ago
What is your zone or what city are you in?
hosenemesis
14 years ago
I like Santa Barbara Daisies.

By the way, you can run PVC above ground, paint it with dark brown matte spraypaint, and hook it up to a hose spigot with a 40 dollar DIG timer if you are going to have groundcover. This has saved me so much labor.

Renee
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Hey, Mike. I remember my mother's frustration as the Ivy climbed the back of our three story brick house. It literally ate holes in the bricks. I don't know who planted it or how it was eventually killed (I was married and living out west) but the damage was not pretty. The dead vines had to be rubbed off with a wire brush. Maryo, I really don't want to point anyone out. It is partly frustration and partly a holdover from Master Gardeners. I feel compelled to pass on information. I remember being upset a few years ago when the local nurseries were selling Virginia Creeper and ivies as ground cover. My worst fears are realized. Over the years I have seen only one place where it is under control and there it is isolated and brutally cut by a homeowner who must be obsessive-compulsive. He mows and trims and sprays the edges of the planting beds weekly with a chemical edger and checks the yard carefully every day. I doubt the average home owner has the devotion to perfection I see there. It is fascinating to watch the results. I commend him for his devotion but I would miss flowers. He has only shrubs, grass and a tree in an island of the ivy but they are perfect. The drought and heat wave is really doing a number on this state. The cost will be in the mega-millions just in crop loss. Some places are reporting water usage is up by 110% and they are curtailing watering yards. The city opened "cooling stations", auditoriums and halls where people who were stressed by the heat could get some relief but only a handful of people showed up. That is strange.
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a couple that do well for me in similar conditons are strawberry begonia and asarums and hexastylis, especially h. splendens (chinese showy ginger). the strawberry begonia is neither a strawberry nor a begonia but is saxifraga stolonifera. it is just beginning to flower at my house and the flowers are a nice addition to the pretty foliage. for what it's worth, i am still eradicating vinca in my woods after planting it many years ago (if nicole and i are thinking of the same plants, the perennial vinca major and minor). i regret the day i dug a piece and introduced it to my garden. hexastylis splendens you can see some of the strawberry begonia at the base of the concrete planter in this photo.
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Yes, I'm growing a couple varieties of Lamium and it can be an aggressive spreader under the right conditions. But the plant is so attractive that I don't mind and it's easy to pull up the bits you don't want. Haven't you ever seen Lamium for sale at your local nurseries or the garden centers in home improvement stores? Many varieties of Lamium are commonly available at our local nurseries through out the year. To tell you the truth, if you don't have them growing in the right spot, they can look rather ratty and they won't spread that much. They prefer dry shade... soil that is too damp can cause the foliage to take on a muddy hue and they're likely to rot. I learned that the hard way. And though they are mainly grown as a shade plant, they do appreciate a bit of sun. Early morning or late afternoon sun is ok. It might be alright under your maple. My mother recently cut down her maple because it was sucking up all the water in her front yard and its roots were choking out other plants nearby..it killed a 20 ft long hedge of Indian Hawthorne.
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That's "aptenia cordifolia", better known as "hearts and flowers". Joe
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wcgypsy
14 years ago
How funny! The first thing I thought was Santa Barbara Daisy/erigeron! I love this plant and I use it extensively. Just recently I'd decided that I love it so much, that it would be the 'continuity' for me. Whatever else I plant, the erigeron is/ will be the continuing thread that ties it together. I especially like it around the base of my roses and in some recently cleared out/replanted areas, I'm planting Santa Babara daisy to fill in again.
hosenemesis
14 years ago
WC Gypsy- I use it everywhere too. This winter I had Mikey mow it down with the lawnmower instead of hand trimming it, and it came back beautifully. What a wonderful plant.
Laurel Zito
14 years ago
The ground cover with the prettiest flowers is Moss Rose (Portulaca grandiflora), but you can not walk on it. It has flowers that look like roses, and come in many colors.
iris_gal
14 years ago
I adore portulaca but it requires regular watering here. I'm hoping to see some seedlings but not so far.

I really don't know why gazanias wouldn't work. What reasons were given?

You could do Santa Barbara daisies with evolvulus (blue flowers). Convolvulus has a slightly larger flower.

There's also thyme in various colors. Or alyssums. Both can be mowed high. Veronica prostrata or pectinata (prostrate forms). Ice plants.
surfcityhb
14 years ago
I'm with hosenemesis and wcgypsy re: Santa Barbara daisy. Tough. Undemanding. Needs little water once established. Blooms almost year round in my zone (10b, Sunset 24). Evergreen. Floats and dances in the breeze. Blends with almost anything. Works great with ornamental grasses. Acts like a lace edging on a garment and adds that little finishing touch in a garden.
jakkom
14 years ago
Although it's a cliche, I've seen trailing lantana used as a groundcover and it's beautiful.
dicot
14 years ago
I have both gazanias and Santa Barbara Daisy/erigeron in full sun where I have to hand water and I much prefer the gazanias. More color, more drought resistance and longer bloom period (for me). Mexi-primrose is invasive, but pretty and fits those conditions too.
kathi_mdgd
14 years ago
I also love Santa Barbara daisies.Dh cuts them back every year and they never fail to come back.We have the purple and white daisies.

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i had forgotten about those pink daisies.
Kathi
wcgypsy
14 years ago
I think you may be thinking of something else. What you've pictured is not Santa Barbara Daisy / erigeron karvinskianus, but osteospermum, aka 'African Daisy', aka 'Freeway Daisy'.
dicot
14 years ago
I'm pretty sure I'm growing Erigeron glaucus, but I think both it and E. karvinskianus are coastal natives here. Is the E. karvinskianus more drought resistant than E. glaucus?
wcgypsy
14 years ago
I haven't grown e.glaucus, but in looking both up to compare, it is mentioned that e. glaucus would take a little more water when grown outside of its coastal zone habitat and e. karvinskianus is said to "thrive in dry climates", so I'm assuming that which is more drought tolerant would depend on where you are growing it. Perhaps being equally drought tolerant at the coast, but karvinskianus perhaps more drought tolerant inland.
kathi_mdgd
14 years ago
Don't know why i said santa barbara daisy,as i know they are freeway daisys.Thanks for catching that.
kathi
davissue_zone9
14 years ago
Look thru this website for ideas, you will find the search engine useful

Here is a link that might be useful: stepables

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