Does spiked ground cover or low growing throned shrubs exist?
jaxo
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
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Adding perennials to existing shrubs - what kind of design?
Comments (10)It's a nice looking bed, but you have it pretty well filled up with shrubs. Unless you keep them pruned back pretty drastically, I'd imagine the bed is rather full when the Ligustrum and Euonymous leaf out. The Junipers at the edge of the patio really prevent you from doing much around them, again, unless you prune them back quite a bit. I'd take a drastic approach, and I'm assuming you have yard space. I'd move the Junipers, and all but one of the Privet. Leave the Burning Bushes, because they're at the back. Now you have an open bed, with a few backbone shrubs to play off of. You could replace the Junipers with low-growing carpet Junipers to soften some of the patio edge, and use small grasses and Hostas between them for contrast. As you work back into the bed, increase the height of the plants, and use the Euonymous as a backdrop, by planning contrasting fall colors in front of their dramatic red fall foliage. A couple of moderate height columnar grasses, like Calamagrostis x acutiflora ('Karl Foerster,' 'Overdam' or 'Avalanche'(the second 2 are variegated)). They'll bloom in summer, but hold their inflorescenses through the fall, and really stand out against the Burning Bushes. Once you open the area up by removing a lot of the shrubs, you'll have many more options....See MoreOkay, I'll say it - I just don't like ground cover...
Comments (49)I have some love/hate groundcovers myself. I think the biggest criteria for my love/hate ratio is the combination of how it grows (fast/slow) and where it is located. i.e. not all fast growers are hated if they are in the right place I just pulled out about 100 sq ft of pachasandra because it just got everywhere. I will miss it in the winter. (pre-snowcover). I have a huge patch of bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) that spreads very quickly, but it is in a part-shade woody tree-shrub area and it really seems to fit the woodland less-manicured feel. I also suspect it would be hard to eradicate if I wanted to. It has those thin roots that go everwhere and break easily. But I love it where it is. I have creeping veronica Waterperry in a perennial bed and it stays put nicely. Love it. I also have Georgia Blue but it is much more aggressive. I have to pull it back severely twice a year. Dislike it (but not enough to remove it). I have a gold variegated one that barely grows. I moved it this year to a new place it may do better. Lamium 'Pink Nancy' wanders and blends in nicely. It pulls out easily if it wanders too far. Love it. Ajuga, love it in bloom (have Choc Chip and Crispa Metallica). Neutral otherwise. Need to have something interesting (and strong) nearby. I'm trying out Hosta Kabitan. Thymes... love the daintiness... hate that they don't suppress weeds so well. Geranium Biokova... I consider that more as a specimen perennial than a groundcover, but I can see it is somewhat of both. Love it. Sedge, Treasure Island...grows slowly, love it because it can go anywhere safely, but unless it is cut back with other perennials, it looks messy far into spring until the new growth covers the old stuff. Cutting back a groundcover is not a fun thing. I used to when I had a little, but now its out of the question. I enjoyed and saved this old thread about groundcovers in link below. I haven't read it in a while, but it might be interesting after reading this thread....See Moreground cover for back yard slope with pine trees
Comments (13)Hi there, You just described one of my hillsides here in the sf bay area, right down to the old Montery Pine trees and horrible packed clay soil underneath that few things will grow in, and a previous owner who actually thought ICE PLANT would survive on a full-western exposure sloped hill. So we have a couple patches of this ice plant that clings to the hill, blooms a couple weeks a year, and the rest of it annual dry grasses (read: weeds) that either get weed whacked or pulled by hand in the spring after the risk of a mudslide is past. (Our hill isn't that big so hand weeding isn't impossible.) We just repaired the retaining wall for this hill, which means our next project will be to finally plant something there to keep the soil from eroding that won't need to get whacked each spring. Our landscaper recommended 2 plants: manzanita creeper, and a low-creeping ceanothus, I think it's called Carmel something. I think both are drought tolerant and natives. And low to the ground. Another thing that grows well on our hill but seems to do better when it has partial shade is vinca minor. It grows really well in moderately shaded areas. It's also deer proof. And finally, one thing that grows well here, even right below the pine tree right under where all the pine needles fall, is juniper. It's not as pretty, but it sure as heck holds the hill. Have you gone to your local independent nursery? Tell them what you're working with in terms of your slope and soil and that you need a good ground cover... they'll steer you to something(s) that will grow well in your own little microclimate. Take advantage of their expertise, and then once you have the names of the plants you want you can start sourcing them out at the best prices. Good luck, -kristi...See MoreSanguisorba and Acaena ground covers
Comments (1)Here is a photo of my Acaena saccaticulpula Blue Haze. I was wrong about the name in my first post. Anyway, it is growing well but not keeping out weeds as well as I might like, sweet yellow clover, willow herb, and grass are coming up in that bed. I'm getting seeds for a couple of Sanguisorbas from JL Hudson but not the low-growing one I want to use but passed up because of the price at a fair. Perhaps I'll find one again. Does anyone know a source for seed for one that gets 12" tall? I will have seed for Sanguisorba minor, the one I grow, when it ripens. --Sanguisorba officinalis. 'GREAT BURNET'. Dark purple flowers in 1" spikes. Pinnate leaves. An elegant perennial to 5 feet. Eurasia. Sow in March, thin to 9" apart. The leaves are eaten in salads. Medicinal. Germinates in 1 - 3 weeks, and is improved by 4 weeks cold. --Sanguisorba tenuifolia. Pink flowers in dense cylindrical 2 - 3" nodding spikes from July to October, in clusters held above the large basal pinnate leaves. Hardy perennial to 4 feet. Wet meadows and streambanks of NE Asia. Hardy to Zone 4. Good cut flower. Germinates in 2 - 6 weeks....See Morejaxo
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