Ground Covers

All too often excellent ground covers are not used because landscape designers and home gardeners feel that taller varieties do not capture the role of effective coverings.

However, over the years some of the best uses for this type of perennial plant that I have seen, have been varieties of 24” and up in size.

When traveling I always take note of the various species that are being used as coverings and see no reason why the spectrum of plants can not be increased wherever you live.

The following link contains a list of quality selections that can and should be used as ground-cover plants.

Calculating number of plants needed per square foot can be confusing without the assistance of our helpful chart and hope you will find it useful.

Check out this rather short list of evergreen selections.Yes this listing is short but we believe that some of the best varieties available have been selected.

Some of the above selections are certainly best used in shade while others will be at home when used as sun ground-covers. Please see elsewhere on our site the light requirements suggested for various plants.

During the past decade a rather exciting group of designated ground-cover roses has been introduced on the horticulture scene. These roses are showing great promise and should be used more frequently.

For those among you that enjoy planting seeds Larry briefly discusses ground-cover seeds. He however goes into detail regarding two methods of plant production including grafting and tissue culture.

We believe that special emphasis should be placed on noteworthy varieties and their various cultivars, therefore we invite you to check out the sections featuring the following titles:

• Sedum
  
• Vinca
  
• Ajuga
  
• Liriope
  
• Mondo Grass
  
• Thymus

Finally, be sure to check out Larry's useful list of plants that are tolerant of foot traffic.