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Using ground covers
for weed control.

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The two most popular and widely known ground covers among home gardeners are Pachysandra and Ivy. Both of these plants make excellent ground covers. However, too many gardeners think that all they have to do is stick a few sprigs in the ground and then sit back and let Mother Nature do the rest. And be assured she will. She will methodically fill all the bare areas in between the sprigs with weed seed that will quickly germinate and over take the entire area, rendering the new ground cover plants helpless to become established.

Last spring we sold over $25,000. worth of our
little plants right from our driveway in a
matter of about six weeks!

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Establishing a new bed of ground cover requires work and discipline. You must keep the area weed free as the new ground cover establishes it’s self. Once the weeds take over the new plants will receive very little sunlight, and sunlight is magic. With it plants grow like crazy, without it they stand still and will eventually die if they don’t receive a minimal amount. I tend to think the same thing applies to people. Sunlight makes us spiritually alive.

The most important step in preparing an area for the planting of ground cover is to make sure the soil is as free as possible of both weed seed and pieces of active weed roots. Another important factor is to have good rich soil. Most ground covers will grow in poor soil, but they will not thrive and therefore will take substantially longer to become established. Of course bringing in good rich topsoil will be a huge benefit in the long run, but in the beginning you will have more weeds because most really good topsoil is loaded with weed seed. It's the nature of the beast.

If you have a bed with new fresh topsoil don’t be in a hurry to plant in it right away. It is better to rake the soil flat or to the desired grade you want, and then let it sit for a week or two, giving the weed seeds a chance to germinate. Once the weeds are about two inches tall either spray them with something like Round-Up® or another non-selective herbicide, or disturb the soil by either roto-tilling or dig by hand. You only want to disturb the top couple inches of soil. Wait two more weeks and do this again.

If you use an herbicide, make sure you use one that has no residual effect. In other words one that will not linger in the soil. Speak with a professional at your local garden center. Do not take the advice of an untrained and unqualified sales person. Make sure the person with whom you are speaking is quite knowledgeable about all garden chemicals.

Ivy and Pachysandra can be planted on 12" centers, which means that the plants are planted in a random pattern with a distance between all plants of 12". Planted closer they will fill in quicker and require less effort in keeping the weeds out while the plants are becoming established. Planting them further apart will save you some money but will increase your work.

At 12" on center you will need 1 plant per square foot.

At 8" on center you will need 2.25 plants per square foot.

At 6" on center you will need 4 plants per square foot.

Most ground covers are sold in flats of 50 or 100 plants per flat. The most popular grade is a one year old rooted cutting with an average retail price of 25 to 35 cents each. Two year old plants are available at higher cost, but they also have much better root systems and longer runners, and will fill in much quicker.

Another nice but not as widely known ground cover is Euonymus Coloratus, also known as Purpleleaf Wintercreeper. This plant grows much like an Ivy but has a different shaped leaf. The leaves turn purple during the winter just as the name implies. However, it is also susceptible to Euonymus Scale which is a harmful insect, and once the plants become infested, can be quite difficult to control. But then again there are pests that attack most all plants, so prevention is the key. Speak with an expert at your local garden center if you want to use a spray as a prevention.

Ivy on the other hand can be damaged by severe weather during the winter.

Pachysandra is as tough as nails and can be an excellent ground cover. It can also be the most invasive pain in the butt you could ever put in your yard.

My opinion about these types of ground covers is that they are great to use in large shady areas in your yard, or along the edge of a wood line. But I do not like to see them in the foundation plantings around your home. Most people like to see color in their landscapes. In order to have and appreciate color you have to have contrast. Ground covers in foundation plantings eliminate that necessary contrast. Everything blends together and just becomes a sea of varying shades of green. I, and most homeowners appreciate dark brown mulch instead of ground cover because all the plants in the garden will contrast well against dark brown mulch. Many experts will disagree with me in this area, but I have spent 25 years consulting with homeowners, I know what effect the average person is looking for, but it's still a personal preference, and it is your home.

One last comment about ground covers. In fifteen years of re-landscaping homes I found that people who do not have ground covers in their yard can not wait to get some. Those that have had them for a period of years, can not wait to get rid of them. During the fall, cleaning fallen tree leaves out of ground cover is not only necessary, but it is a job.

Do I have ground covers in my yard? You bet I do!!! So which ones did I choose for my landscape?

Junipers!!!

Huh? Junipers are ugly! You bet they are. At least some of them are ugly. As a matter of fact a lot of them are ugly and completely undesirable for residential landscapes. There must be close to 100 different varieties of Junipers and many of them I would not plant at my house or yours. But there are four or five that I highly recommend.

Two of them I have in my landscape and I have put them in just about every landscape I have designed in the last fifteen years. They are both ground hugging plants and make excellent ground covers. One of them is Blue Rug Juniper, (juniperus horizontalis wiltoni) and the other is Green Mound Juniper, (juniperus procumbens nana). These two plants can be planted about 30" apart and will completely fill the area in 3-4 years.

Once you have a few plants you can propagate them in the fall by sticking cuttings in a flat of sand in the fall. Place the flat in a shady location and keep them watered. Over the winter it is helpful to place some bags of leaves or something around the flats to keep the winter winds from drying them out. Start watering them again in the spring and transplant them to their permanent home once they are well rooted. When using rooted cuttings instead of mature plants, I plant them much closer, about 15" on center.

Blue Rug has a blue color and lays very flat to the ground. A very attractive ground cover. Green Mound has a mint green color and also hugs the ground very tightly, except the center of the plant is a couple of inches higher which gives the bed a bit of a rolling effect once the bed has completely grown in. Another very attractive ground cover.

Everybody who visits our house falls in love with the junipers. They won’t do well in the shade, but they are wonderful in full or partial sun. When you go to the garden center make sure you buy the exact varieties that I mentioned here. Do not let them sell you something "like" these two plants. You will not be happy with other varieties. These two plants are the unsung heroes of the ground cover world.

Two more of my favorite junipers are Skyrocket and Wichita Blue. These are both upright varieties with a blue color. Skyrocket is very tall and skinny. Wichita Blue is more blue in color, and has a little more bulk to it. (Like me. Except I’m not blue, just bulky.)

Do yourself a favor and visit the full service garden centers in your area and pick up a couple of really unique and interesting plants for your landscape. These are my favorites.

Lace Leaf Weeping Japanese Red Maple, is the most beautiful plant you can put in your landscape. Shop around and see if you can find a small one. The larger ones are quite expensive.

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

The plant in the center of the above photo is a Lace Leaf Weeping Japanese Red Maple. Below is another photo of the same plant.

Planted underneath of it is Blue Rug Juniper. Since this photo was taken the juniper has grown in to completely cover the bed, all the way out to the edge. Every spring I take my spade and cut it back about four inches, and by the time it flushes out with new growth the tips just reach the edge of the bed. I only planted two plants originally, and they eventually covered the entire corner. It's a nice effect and how many other plants can you trim with a spade?

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Above is a spring time photo of the Lace Leaf Weeping Japanese Maple that you saw above. Below is a green Lace Leaf Weeping Japanese Maple known as "Waterfall".

Waterfall Lace Leaf Weeping Japanese Maple
Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

The above photo is Green Mound Juniper, and these plants will also grow to completely fill in a bed just like the Blue Rug Juniper does.

The above photo is Rainbow Dogwood. Rainbow Dogwood is a variety of White Flowering Dogwood. This variety has green and yellow variegated leaves that change color through out the growing season. By September the leaves are purple with cream colored edges.

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

The above photo is the foliage of Rainbow Dogwood. This is a spring photo. Now look at the photo below to see how much this plant changes as the season progresses. The photo below was taken in September.

The fall foliage color of Rainbow Dogwood.
Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Weeping Cotoneaster
Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Weeping Cotoneaster is Cotoneaster Apiculata grafted on to Paul’s Scarlet Hawthorne. These plants are usually sold while the head is still small, making the plant somewhat unattractive. Don’t be fooled, by the second year the head will fill out and take on an umbrella type effect. The plant produces tiny pink flowers in the spring, followed by small deep red fruit in the fall. The fruit is an attractive contrast against the deep green foliage. The branching habit is so tight and ridged that it makes a great home for small birds.

The above photo is a September photo which is when the berries ripen and turn brilliant red. Cotoneaster Apiculata in it's natural state is a low growing shrub that only gets about 18" high. Although pretty, it can be a pain in the butt in it's natural state because it traps leaves and grows rather unruly. In the tree form it is much less work, but you have to trim it to shape the head.

Cotoneaster Apiculata in bloom.
Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Cotoneaster Apiculata blooms in late April or Early May. These are all really neat plants that will make wonderful additions to your landscape. It's something that most people have never seen if you're looking for something on the unusual side.

Weeping White Dogwood
Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Weeping White Dogwood is as pretty as any other dogwood when in bloom, and the weeping habit is an interesting feature the rest of the year when the plant is not in bloom. This plant works well where a tall tree won't work. It can be kept to a height of only 4 or 5 feet.

The yellow plants shown in this photo are a variety of variegated Euonymus known as "Country Gold". A nice, colorful, low growing plant with green and yellow variegated leaves.

Weeping Pussy Willow
Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Another interesting and unique plant. This plant produces flowers and the same popular fuzzy buds as the traditional Pussy Willow. Grafted up high, all the branches weep from the top of the tree, creating the umbrella weeping effect.

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick is one of the most unique and interesting plants in the plant kingdom. The branches grow twisted and contorted like a pig's tail. Not what you could consider a pretty plant, but definitely different. A true plant lover's plant. Normally this plant grows in shrub form, but I have trained them to grow as single stem plants, and the end result is quite unique. Have a look below.

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick-Single Stem
Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick-Single Stem
Click on the photo to enlarge it. This is a summer photo
of the same plant as above, as you can see the leaves are
nothing spectacular. The highlight of this plant is
it's twisted branches.

Using ground covers for weed control.

Using ground covers
for weed control.