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Landscape Design

Suggestion for a companion to Purple Heart and Mondo grass

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC

last year

I have a full sun border that goes between my walkway and front yard. On the opposite side of the walkway is a much larger garden, so I want this border to be short and subtle enough that you can easily see the larger garden past it, but I also want it to be pretty.

Right now I have Mondo Grass* about every 5 feet, with a landscape light between each bunch. It's functional and it's evergreen, but also pretty bland.

My thought is to add Creeping Jenny** to the front and back to add some bright color, then I can plant Purple Heart*** (Tradescantia pallida, I have tons) next to each bunch of mondo grass.

But I need something else to go between the Purple Heart and the landscape light.

The ideal plant would have colorful foliage (pink, white, red, or orange would be great), and be around 1' tall. Since the Purple Heart dies back in the winter then this plant doesn't need to be evergreen, either. But if not then it needs to be able to grow through the Creeping Jenny.

The finished layout would be mondo grass - purple heart - this plant - landscape light - this plant - purple heart - mondo grass. And then repeat, over and over down the walkway.

If you don't like that then I also have tons of bulb flowers, speedwell, rose campion, and Autumn Joy sedum that I can use. But I was afraid that they would be too tall and take away from the larger garden. I also have Lemon Ball stonecrop**** that I can prune and plant cuttings, but I haven't had a lot of luck with it surviving my winter (it's supposed to be hardy in my zone, but that's not been my experience).

Thoughts or suggestions?

* Mondo Grass: https://www.monrovia.com/mondo-grass.html

** Creeping Jenny: https://www.monrovia.com/creeping-jenny.html

*** Purple Heart: https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/purple-heart-tradescantia-pallida/

**** Lemon Ball: https://plantcaretoday.com/sedum-lemon-ball.html

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Comments (4)

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
last year
Here's an update on what this area looks like:

Ignore the drop cord on the right side of the pic :-) You can see the Mondo grass bunches, though, and I planted Purple Heart alternating against landscape lights. It will fill in a lot, and I'll probably have to prune it next year to keep it out of the Mondo grass!

I might use Creeping Jenny as a ground cover instead of new mulch, but @ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 has me halfway talked out of that.

So what would you put between the Mondo grass and the landscape lights?
cecily 7A
last year
last modified: last year
Fill the entire space with mondo grass. Growing it in little clumps looks silly and defeats the purpose of a ground cover. Mixing several ground covers together then trying to referee their growth is an exercise in frustration. I realize that you're not going to accept or use this advice because it isn't what you want to hear, but lurkers who read this thread may benefit from it.
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
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I agree. Maybe put some spring bulbs, all the same, all along too. And if it were my garden I’d also remove the solar lIghts. They look tacky and fussy to me. They give a feeble light and usually end up leaning at various angles. If the path needs lighting I’d get it wired up properly. And I’d cut the edge deep, sharp and straight. Much easier to keep the grass out of the bed.
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
last year
Hahaha, @floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK, those are wired lights! LOL They weren't cheap, either, so my feelings are legit hurt right now :-O

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NMF6P6X/

@cecily 7A, I honestly don't like mondo grass at all, it was just like that when I bought the place and I haven't been able to think of a good alternative. I've cleared off a lot of trees around the perimeter of my land this year, and I'm thinking about digging up ALL of the mondo grass that I have and using it as a grass-like ground cover in the new area so that I won't have to mow it.

I'm thinking about emulating this in some way:

(Source: https://savvygardening.com/evergreen-groundcover/ )

That looks like creeping phlox, verbana, some sort of daylily, and some sort of herb in the back?

I like the look, but I'm not sure how they keep the phlox in check. Maybe a surrounding border of pea gravel to keep it from spreading out?

But the others aren't evergreen, so for half the year my main entrance would look weird and blotchy. I might could use mondo grass in addition to the bulb plants, though?

What evergreen would you suggest in place of the verbana?

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