A palette of ground covers... #4 in a series

In this series I've discussed where forty years of gardening in the same location has brought us (#1), looking forward to putting the shaded areas created by the addition of a great many trees to better use (#2), and a discussion of making ground covers more prominent in this garden's design while expanding on what is usually considered "groundcover". In this, the last of the series I will review some of the ground cover elements that handle varying amounts of shade that I hope to use initially in what will probably be changes taking place over at least a couple of seasons.


Primroses:
Primula sieboldii... I've located several variations to order for spring. A good grower in the midwest but may go dormant in summer... blooms later than many of the other primulas that do well here.

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Primula japonica... these seed prolifically for me, the problem is they like a lot of moisture and do very well next to an outside faucet where I provide daily drinks. An idea that I recently ran across is to bury old wash tubs with little if any drainage, and adding water thus creating the boggy situation preferred by these Japanese primroses... worth a try!

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A whole host of hardy and easy primulas including several of Primula vulgaris and the like (elatiors, veris, and crosses thereof)...  many of these plants can be divided every couple years and one's stock increases rapidly and voila... ground cover!  Here are a couple more...

I've managed to locate a number of doubles to be planted this spring. Ah to be located in England where it would appear finding these beauties would be much less of a struggle. I'm sure my friend Frog Pond won't mind me sharing photos taken in his gardens as I have done so on a couple occasions in the past. I am truly enamored with the double primroses... here are some of his...

My garden blogger friend Carolyn (see link at right) asked how well the Primula kisoanas mentioned last post filled in for me. I haven't grown them all that long but I did find photos of Frog Pond's who grows them in quite sandy soil. This is early in the season and new plants can be seen coming up... additionally, my friend is very generous with gifting plants which may limit how large his clumps become.

Theoretically, most any plant could be considered a ground cover depending on how it is used. As noted in a recent post, I have a great many hostas that are to a large extent planted in groupings of a number of cultivars in a variety of locations. Changing this situation is something I hope to deal with this spring or at least get started on. Following are a few thoughts on allowing the hostas to better display their individual personalities. Many members of our northeastern Wisconsin hosta group don't allow their plants to get particularly large and keep them to a couple of divisions. Personally I prefer to see hosta gain mature size and often plant them in groupings of three, especially since it would be very easy to go overboard with this concept of 'mixing it up'. I think it is important that some sense of rhythm be maintained in my mixed ground cover plantings. Here are some areas  of hosta that I hope to deal with in the spring...


 I pointed out the following area in a recent post with a photo taken earlier in the season... in this case I like the row of green and white hosta used as it is so that will almost certainly remain even though it's an old cultivar and commonly used (for good reason) ...

The large Montana aureo-marginata has been in this location for over twenty-five years and works well in spring when the Flame flowering crab is in bloom so it will definitely stay put as well...

In the following photo, it is obvious that the surrounding hosta cultivars are the problem which is made worse within a short while as these plants gain their full stature. They need to be moved and plants that complement Montana aureo-maginata can be added while giving it room to properly develop and show itself...

In the following photo, I have what I consider to be a more interesting use of hostas with the ever popular term 'companion plantings'. On a side note, I have read that for a great many hosta lovers, there are only two types of plants in the world... hostas and companion plants. I must admit to being  a bit more well rounded in my tatse for plants... perhaps too much so!

In this case, hostas Gold Standard and On Stage are accompanied by an old rogersia and a very large trycirtis which is just in view at the bottom of the photo. Across the path are a large aruncus, cimicifuga, and a large area of variegated solomon's seal along with additional hostas. I think these are the sort of pairings that work well in terms of color and texture. Unfortunately this is the flowering crab that I removed this fall and I am waiting for an Angelica magnolia to eventually provide shade. The hostas may have to be moved but I really hate to dig into the other plants because of their 'specimen' status.

Other plant materials to be incorporated as ground covers depending on available light include heucheras, heucherellas, and tiarellas. I have some experience with heucheras and really enjoy an old fashioned plant (possibly a species?) that I've grown forever in the gardens because it blooms for months, even in heavy shade. Unfortunately I don't know the name. It is extremely easy to divide into tiny rooted offsets, something that I haven't done in some years and need to do again. It can be seen blooming in the following picture in a very shaded location. 

I've collected several heuchera varieties that I grow as a sort of 'colorful rug' in partial shade on the edge of the cottage garden. One needs to be a bit careful regarding cultivars... some take heat and humidity more readily while others handle extreme cold better. There is a good article with specifics at the 'Plant Delights' web site regarding this. My heucheras are probably in need of division as I've read that they decline without being divided every few years... it a good time for that with my thinking about moving so many plants about... I have very little experience with the heucherellas and tiarellas but perhaps will have better luck in the future as our soil has improved remarkedly after years of mulch breaking down and improving the soil.

The list of possibilities goes on and on, and happily many of the plants that work well as ground covers are already in our gardens and simply need to be restaged and thought of in a different way. A few more examples might include...


Astilbes:

Dianthus barbatus:

Hellebores:

Brunneras: I particularly like the self seeded ones such as in the photo below...

Pulmonarias:

Ajugas: I really enjoy them as a companion to my tree peonies as seen earlier in this series. They are seen below accompanying Allium karavatiense that happily seeds itself in the light shade in this part of the gardens...

Here in the rockery, a diminutive form is in bloom. the remainder of the season it retains a very dark burgundy brown foliage color and is easy to pull when it gets too ambitious...

I covered epimediums in a post not long ago and these are among my favorite shade ground covers, whether clump forming or spreading...

Sweet woodruff was mentioned earlier in this series as well...

Lady Slipper orchids are another amazing possibility and will take quite a bit of shade in many instances...

Let's not forget the various Arisaemas or Jack-in-the pulpits...

As I mentioned earlier, the term ground cover can really encompass a lot of territory depending on how you look at it. There are the plants that are generally considered "groundcovers" by most books on the subject, but I am really thinking in terms of much more than that... herbaceous perennials, ferns, and shrubs. Great interest can also be attained through bulbs that grow in the shade of which I'll mention a very few here including the wonderful martagon lilies...

... Scilla and English bluebells...

Camassia...

The list goes on and on and by now I've realized that I have all kinds of possibilities here in my own gardens, many more than what I referred to in this post, just waiting for the chance to be creatively put to use in the shade of my trees.


One of my concerns however, has to do with the dryness of areas with thick roots close to the surface. There are lists of trees that really don't like their roots disturbed... in many cases that can be dealt with by planting away from the tree's trunk and allowing the groundcovers to meander towards the trunk on their own over time.


Where this isn't a possibility, one can pick up landscape blocks on sale and create a raised area for plantings. A word of caution, this can be overdone and damage to the tree can ensue. However, it has been my experience that a certain amount of this is generally ok as long as the area is not too large a portion of the tree's root area, is not built up too high, nor too close to the trunk... try the technique at your own risk.


Certainly a book could be written on this subject of "painting the ground" in various levels of shade. I'll end here, totally anxious to get at it, and hitting the gym every other day so I will be able to handle it physically.


One last thing ... I've come to realize that my archives are about as cumbersome as the US tax laws. I have removed the majority of them from the site for now and will slowly be replacing them with plant based posts with a few exceptions. Eventually virtually every type of plant I grow in the gardens should be covered and updated once a season... at least that's the plan for now...


Take care, Larry