Growing Wise : ground covers

Nasturtiums on my mind

Elisabeth — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:44:00 GMT

Even as the grape hyacinths come into bloom and the last of the daffodils open up in my yard, I, like other gardeners am thinking ahead. That's why I am planting nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) seeds. The closest that many people get to nasturtiums is seeing them as part of the packaged "edible flower mixes" sold in the specialty produce sections of many supermarkets. The flowers taste peppery and are good in salads, but I think they lend even more spice to the summer garden.

The blooms have five petals apiece (double-flowered varieties are also widely available) and are vaguely trumpet shaped. They grow profusely and stay close to the rounded green leaves. My favorite nasturtiums are the old-fashioned ground hugging varieties that are great for the front of the border, flourish in pots and make a colorful edging for vegetable or herb gardens. I am especially fond of 'Peach Melba', a cultivar with cream petals and a red throat. This year I may try one of the climbing varieties as well.

Nasturtiums have big, pea-like seeds that are easy to handle. Soak them in water for about eight hours before planting to loosen the hard outer covering.

Perhaps the most wonderful thing about nasturtiums is that they absolutely love lean soil and don't mind drought. Put them in rich soil and overfertilize and you will get an exuberant crop of leaves but few flowers. But if you plant them in sunny space, water until they are established and pretty much forget about them thereafter, they will generally reward you with lots of flowers. Pick a few for a salad, but enjoy the rest in the garden. Nasturtiums are about as close as most of us will get to a horticultural free lunch.

Lamium

Elisabeth — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:06:00 GMT

I love lamium. It covers a multitude of sins, including dying spring bulb foliage, and it outcompetes weeds. Many varieties have interesting variegated leaves and the small puffy flowers in shades of white, pink or purple are so pretty that you could use them in small arrangements.

Being a member of the enormous mint family, lamium (which also goes by the unattractive nickname "dead nettle") does everything except plant itself. Mine is a pink-flowered variety, growing happily in a small round bed in semi-shade. The bed is a problem spot and before the lamium went in, nothing grew very well there. Even ajuga, that rugged veteran of the shade garden wars, languished. Lamium not only grew but flourished, filling the area completely in about two years.

People talk about deer-proof plants and, as many pundits say, nothing is truly deer-proof if the deer are hungry enough. In my yard we don't have deer, but the other varmints don't touch lamium. This may be because the groundhog prefers buttercups, the raccoons prefer my garbage cans and the rabbits prefer the neighbors' vegetable garden. Whatever the reason, the lamium is untroubled by animals or bugs.

I have seen lamium grown successfully in containers and windowboxes as well as in standard gardens beds. It's a wonder to me that one of the multitude of plant promotion groups hasn't named it the "plant of the year" yet. That is bound to happen eventually. Maybe just this once, I am ahead of the horticultural fashion curve.

Hardy Geranium

Elisabeth — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:36:00 GMT

When I think about easy-care plants that hold their own in most garden situations, I think about hardy geranium. These are not the big, showy geraniums that you buy for pots on your porch or use to fill your windowboxes. Those beautiful tender plants are actually pelargoniums. Hardy geraniums are usually low-growing perennials with simple flowers that can be white, pink, rose, purple or blue-purple. Some require full sun while others prefer light shade. The flowers are generally single, with five petals apiece. Occasionally they are bi-colored or striped. The leaves are usually deeply dissected and sometimes aromatic.

Over the last ten years, hardy geraniums have come into their own, with new species and varieties arriving on the market every spring. One of the best recent introductions is an English import, 'Rozanne'. Like other geraniums it grows low, rarely reaching more than eighteen inches tall, and has a mounding habit. If it is happy, it will also spread and multiply. I bought mine three years ago, and divided it last summer. The plants have no problem getting through cold winters.

The best things about 'Rozanne' are the flowers. They are on the blue side of the blue-purple spectrum, with white central "eyes". The blooms are large for hardy geraniums--nearly an inch across and borne in great profusion. The plant can do just fine in light shade, but really performs best in the sun. 'Rozanne' needs regular watering while it is getting established, but afterwards can get by with almost no supplemental water.

'Rozanne' is a good edger and can also perform will in pots.

This spring buy your usual big, showy pelargoniums, but try their winsome cousins the hardy geraniums.

Lily Turf

Elisabeth — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:15:00 GMT

As I walk around the neighborhood these days, I take careful note of which plants still look bright and fresh as the growing season wanes. One plant that looks especially good is liriope or lily turf.

You may not be familiar with this somewhat grassy-looking plant, but you have probably seen it around. Like many plants with the word "lily" in their common names, liriope is not a member of the lily family. It is, however, related to another famous non-lily: lily-of-the-valley or convallaria. Liriope is native to eastern Asia.

Since the groundcover craze began about a decade ago, lily turf has come into its own. It stands about ten inches high in my yard, with long, grasslike leaves that form tidy mounds up to three feet across. Green liriope is attractive on its own, but I am very partial to the variegated variety, with yellow-edged leaves.

In the fall lily turf sprouts tall flower stalks, the top third of which are covered with tiny purple blossoms. Some people think they look like grape hyacinths, but they might also remind you of miniature purple loosestrife stalks. Liriope is not fussy about its surroundings (though adequate moisture works wonders) and can make do with partial shade.

One of the best things about liriope is that when it gets too big, it is very easy to divide. If you can only buy one plant because you are on a tight budget, have no fear. A happy liriope will repay your investment many times over. If you divide regularly, within five years, you will have a nice, ground-covering patch.

Liriope is neither lily nor turf, just a wonderful plant for the fall garden.

Planting the Strip

Elisabeth — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:19:00 GMT

I have always hated the strip of my property that lies between the sidewalk and the street. Grass refuses to grow on half of it because of shade from a big maple tree. The other half gets baked in the hot sun and is home to an inexhaustible supply of broad-leaf weeds and other green pests. Until last week our street had no curbs, so street debris often found its way onto the eroding soil.

Now everything has changed. We have gotten real curbs--of Belgian block, no less--and the strips, which were ripped up during the construction, are covered with a thin layer of topsoil. The municipal maintenance truck came by and the employees hurled handfuls of grass seed and straw at the strip. The straw is still there, but I have no doubt that the birds have already eaten most of the seed.

I am not going to even attempt to grow grass. Instead, I will install tough, low-maintenance perennial plants. Divisions taken from my existing hostas have already gone under the tree and I'll work my way outward, installing more hostas as I go, until I get out of the shade. I may use hardy geraniums of various sorts to cover the earth in the sunny spots. A low-growing catmint might work as well. My aim is to put in ground-covering plants that will provide color on a regular basis and attractive green leaves throughout the growing season. I will mulch in between the new plants to keep any lingering broad-leaf weeds from rearing their ugly heads.

By this time next year, I hope to have a tapestry of color rather than a green and brown nightmare in front of my house.