Versatile Groundcovers/Garden Style nw

[Music] hi everybody and welcome to garden style well here we are it is September it's been a very long summer and I know for a lot of us we're probably over the really hot weather now here in the northwest we are finally seeing some decent temperatures we were back down into the 70s however we haven't seen a whole lot of rain so the watering hasn't ended yet but September October as well as November depending on how cold it gets in your area is the perfect time to start planting again and today I'm going to be covering ground covers and I'm going to cover several different kinds for several different problem areas that you can use ground covers for and there are several uses that ground covers can be used for number one erosion control so if you have a big bank or something that it's hard to mow and you just want to remove the grass and replace it with ground covers that will actually hold the bank in it can serve a couple purposes not only to correct the erosion control control on a bank but also can add some color especially those that have evergreen leaves they can get flowers as well as berries and there are so many things you can use for hot dry banks as well as a shady one and we're about to cover some of that with you then there are your shady areas that can be really wet where nothing else will grow or you just want to cover the ground so that you don't have to keep weeding it or mulching it ground covers serve several purposes that way as well as look pretty ground covers can also be used as a lawn substitute and I'm going to show you a couple varieties here whether it's Sun or shade that can be used just for that purpose you can get really really low ground covers they'd only get two maybe three inches high and you can get ground covers they'll get maybe a foot high and spread like crazy and there are some areas that we just don't want to deal with and ground covers are the perfect answer for those types of situations so the very first one I'm going to introduce you to may look like a shrub from your angle but this is considered a sub trap or like a ground cover and this is called vaccinium we pull the tag out here by this idea it's also got several common names which can be a mountain cranberry lingonberry berry berry there's all sorts of names for this particular ground cover but it's super cute as you can see right now here we are in September and it's starting to get lots of these cute little white flowers on it this is an evergreen and it only get maybe 12 inches high and these are native to North America and that would include Canada Greenland all the really cold areas this is good to zone 2 so we can take sub-zero temperatures and not even affect it the cool thing with this ground cover is you can plant it in full Sun two parts aid these can be found grown natively or wild in the forest and they're usually found underneath the trees or along the edge of highways that kind of thing but it's tough as nails and this would be excellent to place on a bank or some place where you need some sort of erosion control or just grow it for its versatility now being its evergreen after it gets these white flowers on it that's actually replaced with these bright red berries which are edible and you will find that bears like to eat them as well as the birds and humans can eat these as well these make a great cranberry substitute so if you don't have cranberries available to you these are a little more tart and how they taste but if you're cooking them or cooking with them this would be a great substitute so what a fabulous way to not only have erosion control out in your garden but you can eat it too which is great now what I like most about this particular ground cover is not only is it super cute and it's getting flowers on it at the time of the year when a lot of things are done but once it gets us berries on it it will hold onto those berries as long as the wildlife isn't eating them all the way through the winter until next spring and it keeps its leaves so if you have an ugly bank that you don't want to deal with anymore this would be a great option for you now the way these spread this will spread indefinitely because what it does it has underground rhizomes kind of like Milan would where it'll send out a runner and it will pop up and create a new plant so these can spread indefinitely I would say at least give them three to four-foot spread which is really nice if you have a big area that you're trying to cover but I can't say enough about this plant I'm actually buying a few of them myself it's not for erosion control but it's just for an area that could really use some ground cover something I don't have to maintain you don't have to trim this or do anything to it once it's planted it gets established it goes from there now it does like some somewhat of a compost tea soil kind of like the same kind of conditions you would find in the forest where you have lots of pine needles we use and debris on the ground so it does like lots of compost once it gets itself established it really isn't too fussy so lingonberry is what I'm calling it mountain cranberry you can look it up there's so many different names for this particular plant but it is considered native and a lot of us plant here in the northwest so there's my first pick for a really tough ground cover and cute at the same time now for another sunny area here's a kind of a surprise for you this does look like moss I know and you wouldn't think so but this is being used often as a lawn substitute so if you have an area that you're just done mowing and you don't want to maintain and fertilize it anymore this is a great option and the name of this particular plant is called sclera anthis and it looks very similar to like a regular moss and I actually have one of those here this is an Irish moss see and this is really dense and compact and this will spread indefinitely as well a lot of folks have used these in between stepping stones and believe it or not it takes full Sun it's not like a normal moss that you would find in the shade this is actually a sunlit and super easy to take care of once you get it established and I've seen a lot of folks rip out their lawns and use this as a substitute now you got to give it a year or two in order for it to grow in and collect so that it looks like a lawn but just think this is as high as it gets and it just looks so neat and trim you never have to mow it so what a fabulous alternative to a lawn and this is called school around this and let me give you some zones on it here it will get maybe one to two inches high like you see right here won't even look like a golf course once it's all grown together you space them about 12 inches apart so you give it about a foot for it to spread and this is hardy down to minus 10 degrees so again another really Hardy cultivar down to minus 10 it does get cute teeny-weeny little ball like blooms on it during the summer time kind of insignificant if you have a big area that you're covering us in it's actually kind of neat kind of cute and then they just fall off and it gets back to its normal trim looking little it's just kind of cute so I'm experimenting with this myself in some hard areas that I have that we're just about anything won't grow I'm gonna plant it first with some compost and then it's gonna take over and do the rest and as you can see it's starting to trail over the pot here but it will start to spread rapidly once it gets itself established just make sure it has really good drainage so sclera and this another really cool ground cover right another one which is great for sunny areas and this is called white star creeper or parasha it's very similar to creeping time only a much bigger version of it and the little leaves here are kind of a second lint thicker type of leaf and this grows like crazy so when you go to put this down in the ground put it in an area where you don't mind it spreading it can get somewhat invasive it's in a real moist environment but as you can see it sends out runners like this so this is another one that's just indefinite when it comes to how far it will spread but I recommend you plant these about 12 to 18 inches apart so they can grow in together and then these lovely blooms that you see on here it starts in the spring and it just does not stop until the first frost they just bloom and bloom and blow so how cool is that to put that down on the ground beats the heck out of looking at brown bark mulch and it's cute to start with there is also a blue star creeper which not really blue but it looks more lavender with the same shaped flowers and just another one that's just an excellent ground cover it's evergreen up here in the northwest and I'm sure in several other areas and it's actually quite Hardy yeah this is good down to zone six or minus ten degrees it'll only get one to two inches high this can also be used between stepping-stones rock gardens that type of thing and it can take heavy foot traffic it is that tough so another fabulous ground cover if you've got some hard areas that you're trying to get covered up or just have something take over and give you some bloom at the same time alright so there's white star creeper and blue star creeper very similar to creeping time only a little bit larger and another variety I'm gonna try again I have a hot dry area I'm gonna try this in and as long as you keep them watered they will spread like crazy so there you go that's that way all right what else do we have so a couple of grasses that I picked up here these are also excellent lawn substitutes this is called mondo grass and you can get a black mondo grass or you can get it in green and you can see this one has in a little bit larger pot so it's a little bit taller this is about as tall as they get and a lot of folks have used Tufts that's kind of what this is looks like a little tuft inside the pot here but they can plant several of these in an area where they don't want grass to grow or put it along the front edge of a garden border you can put them in containers another great idea for any of these that I just showed you but there's the dwarf mondo grass and then you have like a black mondo grass black mondo grass tends to be a little spendy other than your green but man does that make a really neat contrast to whatever it is you're planting it with anything with light green leaves purples that looks fantastic with yellows so this is another great lawn alternative or an alternative to an area where you need something kind of striking these can take full two parts um [Applause] give use o near these guys these are also good down to zone six or minus ten degrees and that's about as tall as this guy's going to get is about six inches and recommend that you plant these at least ten to twelve inches apart from each other as the tufts will get larger bigger round but they are super cool looking and it's all quite a bit of this kept the nursery black mondo as well as the dwarf green mondo grass so very cool another ground cover for you alright so that kind of covers Sun for you and then another one I have here for you I really want to introduce you to because this is a fairly newer cultivar and look at the beautiful lime green leaves and I'll do a close-up for you but there's also a dark green kind of variation that runs through the leaves on this and this is called ceanothus now a lot of you may know ceanothus by California lilac and it's also a very common name for it but this is the ground cover version as you can see it's it's low and this is also an evergreen up here in the northwest and this particular variety is called Diamond Heights and we introduced this at the nursery this year and it sold out every time we brought it in and finally more came available so I brought some more in and I myself have planted quite a bit of this it'll show show you a little snippet of where I have it planted in my yard but this is excellent especially underneath trees that sort of thing is very good in part shade especially dry shady areas it can stand a little bit of Sun I would say make sure it gets shaded by 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon so it's not getting that hot searing heat in most parts this is tough as nails and the bonus on this particular ground cover because it gets this beautiful purple flower on it in the spring and it's fragrant to boot just like a little bottle brush flower and then it gets on it so I liked it just relieves but purple blooms is gonna get on it in the early spring is another bonus so that is ceanothus and when she here it is Hardy to zone 8 or 10 degrees about 12 inches high but I definitely recommend you plant these 4 to 5 feet apart because it will spread that far so another excellent ground cover for banks especially or a big area that you just don't want to deal with what else can I tell you it does need to stay evenly moist during its first year make sure it's getting plenty of water and it can take full Sun until about 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon and then I would recommend it get a little bit of shade so that you're not searing the leaves on it but another fabulous ground cover and for thus for us here in the northwest where everything seems to be dark green this is an excellent contrast that let alone getting blooms on it in the spring so see you know this that's that one then we're gonna move into the shade show you a few shady characters that we have here now this I don't know if you can tell in the camera or not is called bugle weed or ajuga repped ins and this particular variety is actually very gated and it does have pink in the leaves so you can see what's left over of a bloom that it got in the spring to early summer and these are like a bright purple blue spike and these things get loaded with them just covered with them and I've always liked ajuga especially for my shady gardens which is what this is for because it spreads like crazy it knocks out the weeds and it's really pretty this looks fabulous underneath hostas rhododendrons azaleas any type of your shade plants this is a great ground cover to be growing underneath them and it makes it's great for erosion control because what's going to do is it's going to send out all these leader branches and as soon as they hit the ground there's little roots on the bottom there they'll actually root themselves and that's how they spread so they'll spread out touch the ground root themselves and then they're creating new plants from there so that's how that spreads an excellent ground cover I highly recommend it you can get it in dark green or in the variegated version as you see here and another bonus you get beautiful blue blooms on it during the spring so a Jew go I'm really cool ground cover I don't know why they call it bugle wait that's a strange name for that planet okay let's get into moss now here in the northwest we laugh at a lot of people because they want to grow moss in their yards and it is something that just happens naturally for us up here due to all the rain that we get in the wintertime however our climate has been changing up here a little bit and has been getting a little drier but there are several different types of mosses that you can grow as a ground cover these are again another fabulous alternative for in-between stepping stones pathways lawn substitutes but it must have full-on shade so if you have those dark shady areas this is a great way to go now this particular variety is actually an Irish moss there's also a Scotch moss who knew there were so many mosses that exist out there there's fact no monsters all types of mosses but these are the ones the chosen ones for ground cover and you can actually pull these out of a pot and if you have an old log or a stump or something you can actually tuck these into some of the pockets with just a little bit of soil for them to get started in and they'll spread as long as they stay damp and they're in full shade this is a great ground cover as far as that's concerned and this guy I already seeds got teeny-weeny little white flowers up here on the top which is something they start to do towards the end of the summer and then those die off but again this is evergreen so it will keep its color what I do with its tags I'm going to give you a zone so don't don't don't don't don't well it's hardly down to minus 30 degrees so there's some tough stuff for you it's a lot of this you'll see growing naturally especially up here in the northwest and the woods on logs rocks all sorts of stuff but this particular variety does best when it's planted in the ground and will spread like crazy once you get it planted in there so again this only gets about one to three inches high and I would space these about a foot to 18 inches apart from each other and they will definitely find their way and grow in together now a really neat thing that I've seen people do with mosses there's a node variety of this particular moss which is a real bright green real super like neon green and I've seen some fun things done in the shade where they actually make a checkerboard out of them so you could plant one of these and you can plant a light green right next to it and create a checkerboard with them which should be something kind of fun to do out in the garden throwing some ideas out there core yeah fun things you can do with plant this is called babies tears for those of you who may have a greenhouse if you've ever planted some of this stuff and some of it accidentally fell on the ground you would find it just takes off because it really likes the moist areas but if you have a damp wet area that's in the shade where nothing else will grow here's another fabulous ground cover and they're just super cute and again you can do the checkerboard thing where you have a light green and a dark green or mix them up together to create some interest out in the garden this is a great way to cover up the soil fantastic erosion control in areas that are really wet and as you can see these would be excellent in containers as well because this one's already trying to trail over and climb out of the pot but same thing as they start to grow out they get little roots on their stems here and they'll take root in the ground and then take off from there so this is another one that's indefinite as to how far it can spread once the roots start to hit the ground but they're just really neat some neat little mat that kind of grows on top there and it's called babies tears give you a botanical name so Blair rolia yeah excellent around stepping-stones shady areas and this of course will only get maybe an inch high a quarter inch to an inch high and this is Hardy down to zone seven without it actually dying back in some areas it may die back but don't give up hope it's pretty tough it may be dainty looking it's tougher than it looks and I'll just come right back again the following year so the ticket to this is put it in the damp area an area where it gets lots of moisture and of course shade and it'll do exceptionally well for you this is also an excellent plant in terrariums if you're looking for something that cover the bottom of a terrarium or fairy gardens that are out in the shade this is another great alternative to that so just wanted to introduce you to a variety of ground covers this time around got to start thinking outside of the box and this is the perfect time of the year to start planting trees shrubs perennials ground covers all those types of plants are gonna be coming back again next year we're finally at that point and for those of you in the southern hemisphere well shoot you're looking at spring so hopefully I have given you some ideas for some ground covers and some trouble spots that you may have I purposely did not recommend any type of ground covers like Ivy in fact some of areas some states have banned Ivy just do the fact that it is so rambunctious it starts climbing up trees that sort of thing it starts killing the native plants that are actually in your area so I discourage a lot of you from planting ivy as a erosion control even though it works fabulous there's a lot of nurseries including myself that stopped growing it or will only recommend it for containers I mean I love ivy don't get me wrong but I only put it in containers or pots with some of my that sort of thing when I'm planning it up but I certainly wouldn't want to put ivy in the ground as it just grows like crazy here in the northwest and we've seen a lot of our native trees taken over by Ivy and trust me if any of you have ever cared torn Ivy out before on a foot garden it is not fun and it takes forever to get rid of it kind of like blackberry vines they work the same way so anyway my little spiel there there are some ground covers for you and of course I'll put the names of them towards the end of this video along with some photos so that you guys know how to spell it let's trust me I know botanical names can be kind of tough to remember let alone the common names and what they do but I'm still going back to my first one my all-time favorite and this is something I'll be getting lots of to plant underneath trees and shrubs as they can grow exceptionally well lingonberry and I just like the idea that you can eat it too it's almost it's in the heat family by the way Heath Heather family the Erica family so to speak but a tough-as-nails and you can eat it too let me tell you that's right up my alley someone who loves things that are very versatile that way all right you guys do you have any questions or comments of course you can all leave them in the description box down below thank you very much for tuning in getting lots of subscribers here lots of questions really good questions especially over the last few weeks and I hope to be speeding this up a little bit I don't think any of us have been doing a whole lot of planting recently due to the hot temperatures but for us anyway up here in the northwest we are blessed and I am hoping we are past the 90 plus heat as well as the smoke and getting everything cleared out as I am psyching up for my second most beloved time of the year which is fall and that's just a couple weeks away I can't believe it I cannot believe it so upcoming videos that are coming now are more fall oriented I've got a couple fabulous ideas for some fall containers as well as different types of grasses that you can plant right now here in the fall they will have their plumes on them add some more color to extend our growing season until we finally get into Old Man Winter but still lots of fun things we can be doing at this time of the year and whatever you do go visit your nurseries they still have tons of shrubs and trees lots of things to choose from and of course fall mums are starting to come in kale pansies all those types of fall coloring type annuals as well as asters which are actually perennial that can be added to your late season garden to extend the color all the way into winter okay nothing my blabbin hope you guys have had a fabulous summer hope to talk to you soon meanwhile get your hands dirty and we'll see you later bye for now [Music] you [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Garden Style nw

Views: 271,876

Keywords: Groundcovers, Versatile groundcovers

Id: RqAmUvw1w48

Length: 26min 36sec (1596 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 06 2018