Kenneth, I'm presently enrolled in the certificate conifers course being taught at Longwood by Richard Bitner and I am very familiar with Juniperus chinensis and Juniperus virginiana, both of which are ruled out in the case of my volunteer. Please come down off your ladder and read my post. There is no adult - scale foliage on my plant, only juvenile - pointed needles. I have surmised that my volunteer is going to overgrow it's location, which is not a problem. A few back-n-forth's with my hand saw and it's history. I just would like to know what variety of Juniper took up residence.

Although a lot of the plants mentioned come under the heading of groundcover (covers the ground), to me the definition of groundcover means plant it and let it go with no maintenance. Plants like geraniums, dianthus, bleeding heart, and other similar ones mentioned require some maintenance. After the first blooms of geraniums if the foliage is ratty, I cut it down to generate fresh growth. I think of that type of plant as "front of the border" or "edger". If I had a large swath of "groundcover" on a bank for example, I would not want the huge job of deadheading it, let alone, cutting it back. Full fledged "groundcover" should not require deadheading. Well, on 2nd thought, I do deadhead my ajuga, only because it is in a small well contained patch between the patio and garage door and is very visible. I have a hill covered with wintercreeper amongs trees and shrubs. It is pretty large. zero maintenance is the only realistic possibility (unless one can hire gardeners to do huge tasks!! LOL). I guess the type of groundcover to use is affected by the amount of ground it needs to cover. I thought of another "groundcover" that is actually a shrub. Russian Cypress. Microbiota decussata. A nice alternative to junipers, the classic groundcover, but unlike junipers, RC can take some shade. not green in winter... bronze/grey. I have a few scattered about and they add nice texture to mixed beds. Not really appropriate for exclusively perennial beds. I think they can get as wide as 8' or so. Mine are about 4' wide after 3 years.

Have you considered liriope? It tolerates sun or shade, dry or moist soils, produces spikes of lavender or white flowers in August followed by black berries and comes in cultivars with green or green and white or green and cream 1/4 inch wide leaves; it grows to about 1 foot. It is often sold in gallon-size containers at the "big box" stores. If you are patient, you can divide these large plants into 4 or 5 pieces and within 2 seasons, they are nearly as big as the original plant. It is mostly evergreen; by about late February or Early March it starts to look a little "war-torn". Then you just mow it down to about 2 inches before any new growth starts. There are 2 types - Liriope muscari and Liriope spicata. Muscari is a clump former; spicate spreads rapidly by runners and can eventually be hard to control. Liriope mucari 'Big Blue' gets 10inches tall and has violet-blue flowers; 'Monroe White' has white flowers; the variegated types 'John Burch' and 'Silvery Sunproof' spread more slowly. There is also an all gold leaved cultivar called 'Pee Dee Ingot'. You could plant spring bulbs among the liriope to make the area look less "crew-cut" in spring and then the new foliage will hide the dying bulb foliage. The muscari types can be mixed with other grouncovers as they are less likely to overrun their bed mates. Whatever you decide to plant, I think it's a good idea to put down a soaker hose under the mulch to keep your new planting well watered during it's first season or 2. It's usually rainy here in the spring but come July and August we get little rain most years. Good luck with your new home. Pat

where are you???? i ruled out asia.. since its not in new england ... but NE is rather large diverse area ... big city name .... welcome to the forums ... first off.. just because you are cold... it matters not to the plants ... as gal noted.. they are well suited to your area ... also keep in mind.. you bought late season bargain plants from bigbox .... they may.. OR MAY NOT .... have trouble next year.. and odds are.. it will have nothing with what you just did ... so just stop having a heart attack about it all ... i suggest that you plant the rest... imo... they would have better odds in mother eaarth.. than in your breezeway ... cold hard winter winds are one of the worst problems ... and buried under snow.. migtht be the best you can do ... if you watered them in PROPERLY at planting.. a good deep soaking .... i simply dont know why they would need anymore water before next may or june ... there simply isnt any heat.. to make soil moisture evaporate.. so all more water will do.. is potentially drown them ... try not to love them to death ... and no fert this late in fall ... just get the job done.. give yourself a high five on the bargain ... and go relax... ken ps: just shove the little ones in anywhere.. you can permanently plant them in early spring .. no need for perfection .... right now ... a dead veg patch would be brilliant ...