Blue star creeper makes an attractive ground cover under trees and between stepping stones. On and off during spring and summer, delicate, sky-blue, star-shaped flowers appear amid tiny, bright-green leaves that are usually less than 14 inch wide. While blue star creeper ( Laurentia fluviatilis), a native of Australia, is tough and easy to grow, it boasts a sweet and diminutive appearance that reminds me of baby's tears ( Soleirolia soleirolii). When I think of Australian plants, I conjure images of rugged, robust survivors. The underside of the leaves look as if they've been spray-painted bronze. When cool fall weather arrives, some leaves take on tinges of orange, red, and then bronze, persisting through the winter. Up to 1-1/2 inches in diameter, they start out rich green in spring. Quick to spread, its brown hairy stems put down roots wherever they touch the soil.Įvergreen in my Atlanta garden, creeping raspberry has rough, thick textured leaves that are rounded with irregular edges. It’s also a good alternative to creeping junipers along a steep slope. So far, it’s proved itself a worthy roadside warrior in my yard, where it has managed to survive abuse from both two-legged and four-legged creatures. That’s where I’m using creeping raspberry as a ground cover. If you want to test a plant’s toughness, try growing it in the strip between the sidewalk and the street. Combine it with other oreganos, or plant it under lavenders ( Lavendulaspp.), rosemary ( Rosemarinus officinalis), or Japanese bloodgrass ( Imperata cylindrica'Red Baron') to provide a contrasting carpet of gold. Its small, lavender to purple flowers stand out above the foliage in early to late summer. A useful culinary herb, golden oregano has tiny, rounded leaves 1/2 to 1 inch wide. Like other thymes, golden creeping thyme is aromatic, releasing a slight lemony scent when touched, and can be used in cooking.Īnother robust creeper, golden oregano ( Origanum vulgare 'Aureum') holds its golden hue best in colder weather. In winter the stems take on reddish tinges. Mostly evergreen, the foliage starts with strong golden overtones and turns greener in autumn. In early summer it bears small, delicate, whitish flowers. It grows to only 2 or 3 inches high with tiny leaves about 14 inch wide and long. I use it to rapidly fill in gaps between stepping stones or rocks. Golden creeping thyme ( Thymus X citriodorus "Aureus') looks dainty, but it's a tough and fast-growing ground cover. Here it accents the purple leaves of ‘Chameleon’ spurge. Some creepers love the sun Golden creeping oregano shines along a pathway edge. If they cover too much ground, I just dig up the excess growth and either transplant it, give it away, or discard it.
None of my favorites develop woody stems or deep root systems, so they are relatively easy to curtail. They’re all easy to propagate by division. Others, like Mazus reptans, form rosettes of foliage with roots along their stems.
Some, such as creeping raspberry ( Rubus calycinoides, also known as Rubus pentalobus), travel by sending out runners and producing rootlets wherever a leaf node or stem touches the soil. Most great ground covers are essentially creepers-they grow out rather than up. A few vigorous ground covers can even withstand foot traffic or the rowdy antics of pets. My favorite ground-cover plants spread quickly without aggressively taking over the way that English ivy ( Hedera helix) does. And, in areas that can be the most confounding-such as along slopes, under trees, or between crevices of rocks or stepping stones-herbaceous ground covers often fill the bill. That’s actually one of the challenges of gardening I enjoy most-finding beautiful and robust plants to suit a site. Sometimes it seems that designing a garden is like solving a complex puzzle.
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