Oh wow on that 4' snake, Gesila....I quite understand.
Once upon a time my impulse was to inflict harm upon every snake. But now I hesitate to disturb one...of course I do not linger and ask to see its ID, but I observe what it does. If it is a king snake or a rat snake, or pretty benign, I let it be. One that was in a camellia bush beside the bird feeder, I did not harm, but I sprayed it with water until it left the birds alone. I discovered it had a hole in the middle of my day lily bed out front.

BUT, when we go down to the river and walkabout our two lots there, I am always careful. That's the preferred region for water moccasins and rattlers and even coral snakes, all of which are native to our area. Mobile Bay is the area where the western species and the eastern species of reptiles (from frogs and such on up) meet and mingle. So we have quite a lot to keep track of.

Don't think we grow pachysandra here. Not familiar with its appearance.

I pulled out some English ivy (hedera helix) from the front flower bed near the street, since it was moving into my yard from the neighbor's area. It is extremely invasive, and it harbors the white wooly aphids, recently discovered here, and they are on a couple of my hosta...or were until I sprayed them down with ammonia. They also like citrus trees.

I personally love the annual vinca, with the white blooms. I have some which survived the winter, but I always get more to margin the paths and borders of flower beds. In the twilight, the white flowers glow and there is no need to have a light when they are in bloom.

Another thing to be concerned about is the persistant vermin such as ticks, an increasing problem in many areas. If the ticks are hiding in something I just about won't go around those places. I have a theory that the ticks can smell a diabetic individual, and will leap onto them sooner than on a non-diabetic person. My DH never gets a tick, yet they are definitely seeking me out.

I now have some Permethrin to spray on my gardening clothing, since I found a Gulf Coast tick on my forehead yesterday. I cannot stand ticks...they scare me to death.

I've got a ton of Purple Dragon Lamium and just bought two more packets (12 plantings) today. It's the greatest. Big, beautiful purple flowers against a whitish background. Mostly, I just plant my own cuttings and that works great, but 12 new plantings in a short time is even better.

Purple Dragon is the living mulch between hostas. And I hate dead mulch, wood chips and all.

Ditto on the Purple Dragon Lamium. Better than mulch and I like the way it sneaks out among the hostas! Earwigs are attacking mine right now. I'll dump a bucket of water with dish soap on them tonight.

Gesila

Thank you for starting this thread! I am obsessed with alternatives to mulch, but have been hesitant about putting anything that spreads too well. I really love the look of the Creeping Jenny, though. Love that golden color with those blues!

One year I was walking next to my LOTV and there was a strong rustle. I looked down and saw a large garter snake eating a toad. I wanted to faint or vomit, I'm or sure. We only have garter snakes here and I wish we didn't have those...I don't care how beneficial they are supposed to be for the garden. They freak me out, hiding in the ground cover!!

So yeah there are pros and cons with ground covers in general. Weed suppression and "living mulch" vs potentially aggressive spreading or invasive roots. I dislike corralling my ground covers as much as I dislike weeding or buying and spreading mulch, so it's pretty much a wash for me.

Ground cover? I guess I use astilbes, pulmonaria, trillium, ferns, conifers, and dogwood as a ground cover with hosta.

Actually, I do use lamium and sweet woodruff in places.

tj

I like your groundcover, TJ.

Don B.

I have golden creeping jenny in a raised bed surrounded by concrete. From what I hear of its ability to revert ti green and escape into lawns, I wouldn't put it near a lawn. I am impressed with how much it's grown already. Can't hurt the big perennials and bushes in with it.

I have some creeping veronica in my front bed, it's also increasing at an alarming rate but I do like the little blue flowers. I know some gardeners eschew groundcovers altogether and I can see why, they do seem like work.

I have at 3 kinds of lamium planted all over, wish it would hurry up and spread already! Possibly the nicest groundcover and does well in hostalike conditions (moist and shady)

I think candytuft would look nice in a sunny bed with large to giant hosta.It is too bold for small/medium in my opinion.

Also some of the dark ajugas look great esp with gold and chartreuse hosta, but again I wouldn't let them anywhere near a lawn. I have ajuga reptans black scallop and am liking it so far. The wrinkly texture looks nice against large leaved hosta.

Avoid goutweed/bishopweed/groundelder/snow on the mountain like the plague! I'm in year 2 of my battle against it and it is absorbing heartbreaking amounts of time and energy. Go for lamium instead.

I have sweet woodruff in a perennial bed and haven't found it too out of control yet but am considering moving it to a bed with taller, hardier perennials. I have a feeling it is going to get serious next year and could start strangling some of my smaller plants.

I also have woodland creeping phlox stolonifera and really loving it so far. I have sherwood purple and loved seeing its little magenta flowers waving around this spring.

Campanula waterfall (non-running variety) was a champ for me last year. I swear it bloomed from july to november. Nice and low.

My very favorite "groundcovers" to interplant (not mulch substitute) are the japanese forest grasses. Nicolas has quite a bit of red/burgundy tips and looks adorable all year, beni kaze is bold and green, aureole is the most popular, strong and lovely gold/green variegated, and all gold obviously would look completely fabulous with blues. I had a white variegated, fubuki, but it seemed tender since the day I planted and dwindled almost to nothing over the winter. I'm giving it tough love for now but may try moving it.

I haven't had any luck with fubuki Hakonechloa either. Only one of the four I planted survived- and they were all planted side by side so what's up with that. A shame, but I won't bother replacing it.

I think any plant technically speaking is a " ground cover"... Hostas, after all,are often included in that classification. When I think of ground covers, I am thinking of plants that spread and crawl indefinitely ( unless stopped from doing so)

OMG Col, that happened to me this afternoon. I pointed to a hosta I wanted my DH to dig up and there was a snake with a half swallowed toad in it's mouth. My shriek attracted neighbors and we had quite an audience as my son relocated him deep into to the woods behind us.

And, this was in my sun garden. I am no longer safe anywhere.

Gesila

I have strawberry plants in one small bed growing amidst larger hosta. The nice thing about strawberries is that the plants are cheap, perennial and multiply without becoming invasive...that is, it's easy to control how much they spread. And they will grow in an amazing amount of shade. The bed that mine are in is under a pine tree where they get virtually no direct sun. (I have some mystery June-bearing variety picked up at a rummage sale. As a general rule, the ever-bearing varieties don't multiply as vigorously as June-bearers, if that is a concern.)

Also, have some pink lamium in a few other places. Love it and it plays very nicely with hostas. Like it so much that I tried it in pots along with some impatiens last year...and was disappointed because it seemed to be a magnet for spider mites, so might be best to resist the urge to 'pot some up'. Just leave it in the ground; it's much happier there.

In another area...a neglected side yard beneath a large pine tree...vinca minor... It's great stuff for tough, dry shady areas but doesn't seem to play well with hostas. Hostas planted amidst it just manage to hang on...BUT, as I said, this bed is neglected and almost never gets watered and the pine tree prevents much rainfall from ever getting to the soil. The poor hostas get too little water & intense competition from the vinca and tree roots.

Never, ever plant bugle weed/ bishops weed/ snow on the mountain. I've been battling the stuff for ten years. Inadvertently transplanted it to several areas when I moved hostas around before I wised up to how awful the stuff is. Am close to winning the battle as it's growing in only one area now. It's soooo invasive and extremely difficult to eradicate.

Not even going near any of the creeping jennys...I constantly fight the wild version...creeping charlie/ ground ivy...in the lawn...it's always managing to invade from the adjacent woods and it's another invasive, tough to eradicate plant. #2, just under Snow on the Mtn., of my Most-Despised list. Any plants that I dig/ pull up go directly to the burn pit. Don't even think about putting them on the compost pile!

I love to use ground covers. Here are a few of mine that were mentioned here.

Here is a link that might be useful: slideshow

^ Awesome slideshow and beautiful plants!

Good discussion, I'm taking away a few ideas from here.

Creeping Jenny behaves well for me, but I just have this one patch next to a path. About once a month I rein it in.

Purple Dragon Lamium is beautiful. If grown in good conditions it can devour small hostas. Under a Maple, however, it fills in spaces where I really don't want hosta.

Sedums grow quickly and can be used in part shade. However small pieces break easily and get carried off to places where you didn't plant them. They pull out easily though and don't bother hostas at all.

Lady's Mantle is a good ground cover in the middle of the border. It stays put and the colors complement hosta. Other plants like Astilbe and ferns can do the same without needing the constant maintenance of the above spreaders.

Hakonechloa Aureola is a great hosta companion. It took several years in my climate, to get a decent plant. I wouldn't call it a ground cover.

I also have Chocolate Chip Ajuga and Black Scallop Ajuga. They are not vigorous in my clay soil but are beautiful so I keep transplanting them around.

I have tiarella, heucherella and heuchera also. They can be used in ground cover fashion and are less maintenance then the first 3.

I love pine bark mulch too, so I plant the ground covers in front, where I can keep and eye on them and they can hold the mulch in. When the plants fill in you don't really notice the mulch at all but until then the mulch keeps the ground moist and adds organics to the soil.

Beverly

Bev, re: Lady's Mantle, last year I planted Alchemilla sericata 'Gold Strike' and this spring I was surprised at how many seedlings came up. They are easily pulled up, but was not prepared for that. Does yours proliferate like mine?

Thanks Beverly for the good ideas and the suggestion to use Lady's Mantle in the middle of the bed. I just removed a large clump that was at the edge of the bed that was overwhelming Fire and Ice hosta. I was wondering if I could put it behind instead. It is always recommended as an edger, but now I will see how it looks planted further back. It never occurred to me to move the hosta. I like where it is.

Great thread. . wonderful pictures. .thank you! I had to laugh at the snake stories. I'm not afraid of snakes either. . .it just doesn't take me long to look at one of them . . . ; )

Weekendweeder, I have clay loam soil. I do get a few seedlings each year but my soil is not like seed staring mix so I don't get many. I just pull them if I don't want them. I think it would be more of a problem in looser soil.

North 53, I just bought a Fire and Ice Hydrangea. Great minds...
Just divide that Lady's Mantle in to manageable sized pieces and plant. Throw the extra in the compost heap or give it away. It will freshen up the plant.

Beverly

(I had to correct spelling; it was bothering me.)

This post was edited by BeverlyMN on Sat, Jun 22, 13 at 0:02

Aw jeez I have lamium White Nancy, Pink Pewter, Ghost, Herman's Pride and now I gotta get Purple Dragon!

My ground covers include white violets, veronica Waterperry Blue, Sweet woodruff, golden moneywort, green moneywort and a few different ajugas. All of which I keep ripping huge chunks out of each spring to keep them from taking over the entire known world. There is also a wild strawberry that has underplanted itself among the hostas (the turtles love the berries) and some small native ferns that disappear in July. I don't count the ephemeral wildflowers like the trout lilies as they are only there for a short time.

And then there are the little groundcover hostas like Kabitan, Lemon Lime, and Tiny Tears. I'm also working on getting some crested irises, hepaticas and red oxalis established in the woods beds. Lancifolias are going to be a groundcover under a group of snowball viburnums.

Sandy

I was over at Lowes today picking up pots and mix, and spotted a shelf of the creeping jenny for sale. Oh boy. I pointed it out to my DH, and told him the experience here on the forum with it. We don't need anything that requires intensive labor of any kind.
None came home with us, needless to say, except we did get 10 bags of BlackKow, 4 64-qt MiracleGro bags, 15 new pots nursery style...they work fine I can tell already. And 2 big bell pepper plants.

Not time for me to discuss ground cover now, with a kitchen remodel about to begin. Later on, maybe.

I keep going back and forth as I watch my ground covers spread. I do not like the "empty" look of nothing or the dead, messy look of mulch. I have a perennial vinca vine and ajuga. They just finished their bloom cylce. I loved the blue flowers among my hosta. The creeping jenny is just getting ready to bloom. It keeps moving toward the grass away from my woodland garden. At my place the ground covers compete more with the ferns, bleeding hearts and astilbe than they do with the hosta. The hosta aren't bothered but the others struggle mightily if a ground cover gets too close. They are not a huge issue to keep back. Once twice a season I go around and remove any invaders from under my hosta canopies. Once the hosta come in it is too dark under them for my ground cover to be happy. I have had LOV and snow on the mountain deep in the back of my woodland hosta gardens for over 10 years and never had a problem. They seem to be creeping now and I find myself pulling them up but I have so many seedlings to edit out it is all just part of the process. Wild violets love my gardens and I have all colors. It the spring they are very welcome. About now they are getting pretty large and the rain is usually at a premium so I pull them as I go. I prefer to think of "editing" vs weeding. People see my garden and imagine I do nothing but garden but they are wrong. I enjoy and hour or so a day. Some days when I am "painting" re-arranging I spend longer. This Lamium has me intrigued. I wonder if it would grow for me?