Groundcovers are becoming increasingly popular as an effective means of displaying plants and in creating a low-maintenance landscape. As well as found under trees and shrubs, groundcovers are very helpful with erosion and moisture control. Plants that are low and spread fast are suitable to be used as groundcovers. After analysing specific criteria of a planting site, such as exposure, hardiness zone and size, we can start selecting the right plants for this purpose.
Come home with Greenwood’s selection of groundcover that will lighten up your landscape. Whether you want color or durability, you’re sure to find the right choices from the selections we've made for you.
We include these two links to help determine how few or how many plants it will take to do the job.
Choosing, planting and care for groundcover
Location, Selection, and Establishment for groundcover
Planting the ornamental grass under the commonly used Acer palmatum (Japanese maple) will achieve a striking effect. The red leafed maple is going to be set off by the greyish blue grass, which has a compact habitat. A less striking but very attractive effect can be achieved by planting the shade loving Pachysandra terminalis under that same maple but in shady area. Pachysandra with its dark glossy leaves and distinctive texture compliments the maple.
For under the Rhododendron in a shady part of the garden I would like to suggest Gallium odoratum, This fast growing medicinal herb with its lush fine green leaves gives a distinctive background to the dark green glossy foliage of rhododendron. An added bonus is that Gallium odoratum will get covered with dainty white flowers some weeks after rhododendrons finish blooming.
Another very useful groundcover is Hypericum calycinim (Creeping St. John’sworth) which has attractive dark green foliage and showy, simple, yellow five-petal flowers that appear in midsummer. This plant helps prevent surface erosion on slopes. In a dry sunny area Penstemon fucticosus, ‘Purple Haze’ is a good choice. Penstemon is drought resistant and will attract attention in its bloom period with splashes of purple bellflowers.
When choosing the right groundcover for the site, considering hardiness, size, growth rate, sun, shade, soil requirements, blooming time, and fall colour is the key to success. It is also important to think about how the chosen plant is going to correspond with its surroundings through all of the seasons. The groundcover plant role should be to simplify maintenance and help create visual balance in a landscape.
